JERUSALEM—Eleven-year-old Moshe Holtzberg, who survived a November 2008 terrorist massacre in Mumbai that took the lives of his parents, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg,accepted an invitation today to travel to India with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel after the boy’s emotion-filled meeting with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi of India, now on a historic three-day trip to Israel.
“I grew up there in Mumbai,” Moshe, speaking in English, told the dignitaries. “This is my home. I hope I will be able to visit Mumbai, and when I get older, live there. I will be the director of our Chabad House.”
The small crowd broke into cheers when he completed his speech with, “Dear Mr. Modi, I love you and your people in India.”
Netanyahu then told the 11-year-old that he was planning to travel to India on a reciprocal visit, and that he was invited to accompany him. The boy was overjoyed and his grandparents gladly accepted on his behalf.
“We look forward to welcoming Israel’s Prime Minister during his visit to Mumbai with Moshe Holtzberg, Rabbi Yisrael Kozlovsky, co-director of Chabad of Mumbai with his wife, Chaya, told Chabad.org.
“My wife and I are humbled to be a part of, and to continue the holy work of Rabbi Gabi and Rivky Holtzberg, and are working diligently on actualizing the dream of a Memorial Museum at Nariman House, that will help continue their legacy,” he said.
It was just days before Moshe’s second birthday when terrorists stormed the Chabad House in Mumbai, taking the toddler, his parents and several tourists hostage on Nov. 26. Moshe’s nanny, Sandra Samuel, was also in the building but managed to hide in a room downstairs. She emerged when she heard Moshe’s cries and found him standing between his parents’ bodies. Without thinking, she grabbed him and ran, reciting Psalm 23 as she fled the building, also known as the “Nariman House,” which reopened in 2014 after extensive renovations.
Moshe now lives in Afula, Israel, with his maternal grandparents, Rabbi Shimon and Yehudit Rosenberg, who along with his paternal grandparents, Rabbi Nachman and Fraida Holtzberg, attended the meeting with the Indian premier. Samuel, 53, who was granted honorary Israeli citizenship in 2008 and frequently travels from her home in Jerusalem to visit Moshe, received special thanks today from Moshe and from Prime Minister Modi as well.
Kozlovsky said he appreciated that the prime minister met with Moshe and recognized the sacrifice of his parents, and that he looked forward to welcoming Netanyahu during his visit to Mumbai with Moshe.
“It is our hope that this historical visit and meeting will create awareness of the memorial museum project, and the vision of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—for a better, more peaceful world.”
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