Monday, December 1, 2008

Help The Families


Yom Tefilloh in Yerushalayim

Bentzi Kruman

Reb Leibish Teitelbaum

Rabbi Benzion Kruman, a devoted husband and loving father of three young children ranging in age from two months - five years was murdered by terrorists this past week. His work as a mashgiach took him from his home in Israel to Mumbai. R' Benzion was about to leave for the airport when he stopped in the Chabad house for the afternoon Mincha prayers. Unfortunately this short stop ended in his tragic murder. His death has left his family bereft of his presence and financially destitute. It is incumbent upon on us all to feel their pain and help shoulder their burden. A committee was formed to set up a fund to benefit R' Benzion's wife and children.

Reb Leibish was a kashrus supervisor and US citizen
who lived in Israel and was brutally murdered by barbaric
terrorists, with no mercy and regard to human life, HY”D

May Hashem heal the pain of all of Klal Yisroel and avenge of the Kedoshim.

20 comments:

Arthur said...

Does anyone know whether there was some mention about this tragedy at the recent Agudas Yisroel banquet?

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't chabad protest the placing of israeli flag on the coffins?

Anonymous said...

במוצאי שבת, עם בואו של הגר"ח קנייבסקי למעונו, דווח לו על מצב ההרוגים בהודו, והוסיפו לו כי ישנם שני משגיחי כשרות שנהרגו גם הם בתופת הנוראית. אחד הנוכחים שאל: הרי שלוחי מצוה אינם ניזוקים לא בהליכתן ולא בחזרתם. אם כן, בשל מה הסער הגדול הזה?

הגר"ח השיב: זו גמרא בשבת בדף ל"ג: 'אמר רבי גוריון ואיתימא רב יוסף ברבי שמעיה: בזמן שהצדיקים בדור צדיקים נתפסים על הדור'. לפעמים צדיקים מתים בגלל עוון הדור ובכזה מצב יכול להיות שגם שלוחי מצווה ניזוקים, כי הם נתפסים בעוון הדור".

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

so the question was on the mashgichim, not on the shluchim?

Anonymous said...

on both

and by the way I think all ?? the aronim had talaisim over the Is. flag

Anonymous said...

why did you take of vos is neis from your side bar?

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

check again, it's there. I was going back and forth between the new and old style blog, and for a while some of the old links were lost. Nobody took anything off, it got lost somewhere, along with lots of other links.

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

as far as the Agudah Convention goes:

I think they mentioned the "Achim Kedoshim" without of course mentioning Chabad by name....

Anonymous said...

Tragic receptions in Israel!

Reported by Matzav.com at http://matzav.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=181&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=4168&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=2222&hn=matzav&he=.com

Kedoshim Arrive in Eretz Yisroel; Gerrer Rebbe Travels to Ben Gurion

Posted: 01.DEC.08

Israeli Air Force aircraft carrying the bodies of the six kedoshim murdered at the Chabad House in Mumbai, India, touched down at Ben-Gurion Airport late this evening, Israel time. A brief memorial service was held at the airport, with representatives of the bereaved mishpachos present. The bodies were then taken to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute, for the necessary pre-kevurah preparations.

At the airport, the Gerrer Rebbe came to pay his kavod acharon to the kedoshim.

Shas Chairman Eli Yishai, as well as MKs Yitzchak Cohen and Yaakov Edery attended the ceremony, as did MK Yaakov Litzman. Hundreds of relatives and friends were present as well.

Thousands are expected to attend the levayos across Eretz Yisroel tomorrow.

The levaya of R’ Leibish Teitelbaum will take place tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. at his father-in-law’s bais medrash, the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Bais Medrash in Meah Shearim in Yerushalayim, with kevurah on Har Hazeisim.

The levaya of R' Bentzion Kruman will take place at noon at the main Bobover Bais Medresh in Kiryat Bobov in Bat Yam and will continue at the Bobover Bais Medrash on Rechov Chazon Ish Street in Bnei Brak. Kevurah will take place in the Spinka Chelkah of the Segulah Bais Hakevaros.

The levaya of R’ Gavriel and Rivky Holtzberg is scheduled to be held tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. in Bais Medrash Agudas Chabad in Kefar Chabad. The levaya will then continue at the Chabad Yeshiva Torah Emes in Yerushalayim, with kevurah on Har Hazeisim, where Rivky’s grandfather is buried. Tens of thousands of people from throughout Eretz Yisroel and around the world are expected to attend the levaya. Extra public transportation is being provided to help people travel to the levaya.

Meir Holtzberg, R’ Gavriel's brother, said the family has asked there be few hespeidim and speeches. "It has taken a long enough time as it is for the body to be brought to Israel. We have no desire to postpone the kevurah any further. This will be a short procession,” he said.

The two other kedoshim, Yocheved Orpaz and Norma Shvarzblat Rabinovich, will also be laid to rest.

Other details:

- El Al Airlines gave a special price for the 6:20 p.m. flight tonight for those who wish to attend the levaya of R’ Gavriel and Rivky Holtzberg. The flight will arrive in Israel at 12 noon and will return on Wednesday or Friday morning. The price was $995 including taxes; the regular price would have been $1990.

- Zaka reports that a bullet-ridden Sefer Torah found in the aron kodesh in the Chabad House in Mumbai had a bullet hole directly on the posuk in Sefer Vayikrah of "Acharei mos shnei bnei Aharon."

- Rabbi Shimon Rosenberg, Rivky Holtzberg’s father, has asked that he should become the replacement shliach in Mumbai, to carry on the work of his daughter and son-in-law.

{Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Newscenter}

Anonymous said...

Torture, the ultimate tragedy

From Rediff, India Abroad at http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/nov/30mumterror-doctors-shocked-at-hostagess-torture.htm

Doctors shocked at hostages's torture

Krishnakumar P and Vicky Nanjappa in Mumbai | November 30, 2008 | 19:53 IST

They said that just one look at the bodies of the dead hostages as well as terrorists showed it was a battle of attrition that was fought over three days at the Oberoi and the Taj hotels in Mumbai.
Doctors working in a hospital where all the bodies, including that of the terrorists, were taken said they had not seen anything like this in their lives.

"Bombay has a long history of terror. I have seen bodies of riot victims, gang war and previous terror attacks like bomb blasts. But this was entirely different. It was shocking and disturbing," a doctor said.

Asked what was different about the victims of the incident, another doctor said: "It was very strange. I have seen so many dead bodies in my life, and was yet traumatised. A bomb blast victim's body might have been torn apart and could be a very disturbing sight. But the bodies of the victims in this attack bore such signs about the kind of violence of urban warfare that I am still unable to put my thoughts to words," he said.

Asked specifically if he was talking of torture marks, he said: "It was apparent that most of the dead were tortured. What shocked me were the telltale signs showing clearly how the hostages were executed in cold blood," one doctor said.

The other doctor, who had also conducted the post-mortem of the victims, said: "Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks. It was clear that they were killed on the 26th itself. It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again," he said.

Corroborating the doctors' claims about torture was the information that the Intelligence Bureau had about the terror plan. "During his interrogation, Ajmal Kamal said they were specifically asked to target the foreigners, especially the Israelis," an IB source said.

It is also said that the Israeli hostages were killed on the first day as keeping them hostage for too long would have focused too much international attention. "They also might have feared the chances of Israeli security agencies taking over the operations at the Nariman House," he reasoned.

On the other hand, there is enough to suggest that the terrorists also did not meet a clean, death.

The doctors who conducted the post mortem said the bodies of the terrorists were beyond recognition. "Their faces were beyond recognition."

There was no way of identifying them," he said. Asked how, if this is the case, they knew the bodies were indeed those of the terrorists, he said: "The security forces that brought the bodies told us that those were the bodies of the terrorists," he said, adding there was no other way they could have identified the bodies.

An intelligence agency source added: "One of the terrorists was shot through either eye."

A senior National Security Guard officer, who had earlier explained the operation in detail to rediff.com, said the commandos went all out after they ascertained that there were no more hostages left. When asked if the commandos attempted to capture them alive at that stage, he replied: "Unko bachana kaun chahega (Who will want to save them)?"

Anonymous said...

about the flag issue:
imho, it was wrong for the flags to be on the aron of teitlebaum. It brings up something that his almanah should not have to deal with now. It was an unnecessary slap in the face that a little bit of empathy would have helped.

Chabad does not need israeli flags. However, considering that they arranged the flight of the IAF and the forensic specialists, it would have been a slap in the face to not allow some airport ceremony with the flag.

Anonymous said...

The website for the Batturer Ruv's son said that he was a member of Areivim, which is a charedi insurance policy. Areivim is technically supposed to cover tragedies like this. Anyone know why they opened a fund?

Anonymous said...

I think Areivim only covers the money to marry of the kids ($50,000 per kid at the time of their wedding?), but I'm not sure.

Anonymous said...

thank you hirshel...i don't know if it was you, but they took the picture down

Anonymous said...

Oy, I so don't want to get dragged into this...
Arthur, your question about the Agudah is stupid and cruel. And Tzig's response is not much better. Why are you using this incident as an opportunity for snide innuendo about the Agudah? If they did not mention Chabad by name, that is a maalah, not a chasoron. What should they do? Say "Chabadsters" got killed? That would serve to DE-value the tragedy as if to say that their Lubavitchkeit was relevant. They mourned HOLY YIDDEN, not Chabadsters.

Arthur, your question is for sure not an ilui l'nishmasam. Very, very shameful.

Arthur said...

Michoel
I am sorry that you have the above perception about my question.There was no snide innuendo.I would ask the same question about Vos Iz Nais,Yeshiva World,Jerusalem post etc.if I wouldn't have seen their take on this tragedy.You are reading thing things into my post that were not intended.

Anonymous said...

Michoel
Just thinking loud
Would they not mention Lev Leachim guys by name if they would get hit Hashem Yerachem...

....afilo al pischa she gehinom ainom...

Anonymous said...

Arthur,
I'm sorry. Yes, I jumped to conclusions. Please be mochel.

Anonymous said...

Hello Anon of Dec 02 and 3:14,
You might have point but is in not really a strong comparison. Being a Lubavitcher is an affiliation. It is not, by itself a shlichus. If the Lev Leachim guys happened to learn in Mir, and they the Agudah made a brief statement stressing that Mirer talmidim where killed, it would be strange. As in "who cares where they learned? They were ehrliche yidden."

Arthur said...

Michoel ,
There is nothing to be mochel.I never had anything against you.