Chabad’s Tremendous Response to Terror

Stunned, lamenting, action. In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy that struck Mumbai, India, last week, Chabad took action. In tremendous ways, the ultra-orthodox Hassidic Jews redirected their grief into positive action in order to combat the evil that quaked their world.

“This week, no one is celebrating,” said Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz, editor and publisher of the weekly newspaper, Yated Neeman. “But they are more united than ever before. After the atrocities in India, all of us are more united.”

Among the hostages who were killed by terrorists at Mumbai’s Nariman House were two Chabad Shluchim (emissaries) of the Lubavitcher Rebbe: Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his pregnant wife, Rivka.

No Charges Against Author of Suspicious Letter to Chabad

SCOTTSDALE, AZ — The man who sent a suspicious letter to Chabad of Scottsdale with references to the Mumbai bombings will not be charged, Scottsdale police said Thursday.

Scottsdale investigators did not release the name of the Scottsdale resident, but said he is a former Chabad student.

Emigre Spearheaded Jewish Education in North America

BROOKLYN, NY — Rabbi Tzvi Yosef Kotlarsky, a Polish-born Chasid who escaped war-torn Europe via Japan and China to ultimately participating in the building of the Chabad-Lubavitch school systems in Montreal and Brooklyn, N.Y., passed away Monday at the age of 91. Known by his Yiddish name Hirschel, the rabbi served as chief administrator of the United Lubavitch Yeshiva in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights section for decades.

Outpouring of Emotion Seeks to Make Sense of Mumbai Tragedy

BROOKLYN, NY — Perusing the more than 600 reflections submitted by readers to Chabad.org in the days after India’s worst terrorist attack, one thing becomes clear: In the course of their short lives, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg – the directors of the Chabad-Lubavitch center in Mumbai whose bodies and those of four other victims were recovered the night of Nov. 28 – managed to touch many lives.

Behind Chabad Fundraising, A Stealth Security Campaign

NEW YORK, NY — In the weeks since the Mumbai terrorist attack, the Chabad movement has directed contributions from supporters primarily to two campaigns: One to aid the child whose emissary parents were slain, and another to rebuild the badly damaged outreach center and re-establish operations there, which could cost as much as $1 million, according to a Chabad estimate.

But at the same time, some Chabad leaders are acting on their own to secure funds and resources to make dozens of Chabad houses in far-flung outposts safer.

A group of emissaries in southeast Asia, led by Rabbi Yosef Kantor, who is based in Bangkok, Thailand, has launched a campaign aimed at improving security at their centers, and distributed donation cards at Lubavitch world headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, last week.