In Colorado, Rabbi Avi Mintz monitored the news from Mumbai, India, relentlessly, hoping the terrorist attacks did not take the life of his childhood friend and colleague.
He prayed, telephoned friends and clung to every last string of hope.
Early Friday, he learned that it was over. His friend, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, and his wife, Rivka, did not make it out alive.
“He gave it his most,” said Mintz, the rabbi of the Chabad Jewish Center in Highlands Ranch. “He gave his total self, and ultimately he gave his life for that.”
Mintz studied with Holtzberg starting in the third grade. They went through elementary school in Brooklyn together, then high school and, finally, rabbinical school.
Early on, it became clear Holtzberg would become a leader in the Jewish faith, Mintz recalled. Even in elementary school, Holtzberg was winning competitions for his memorization of the Torah.
They parted ways in 2003, with Mintz becoming a rabbi in Colorado and Holtzberg leaving for Mumbai to be the rabbi of the Chabad Jewish Center there.
They met again, briefly, a year ago during a conference in New York.
Holtzberg recalled how his friend talked proudly of what he had accomplished in Mumbai. Holtzberg did not have the same luxuries as a rabbi would have in the United States. He had no support staff and had to conduct the ritual slaughters of meat and poultry himself, but he believed he was making a difference in the world.
“He had a love for Judaism and for spreading that love,” Mintz said. “He felt there was a need for that community, and he stood up and left the comforts of New York and Israel behind. He left family and friends just to teach and be a beacon of light for Jews and for all people.”
Darkness and evil have come, Mintz said, but his friend would not have let them remain.
“He would believe the way to fight back would be to spread light for all people,” Mintz said.
