Nov 29, 2008 7:40 am US/Eastern
NYPD Guards Against Mumbai-Like Terror Attacks
Lubavitch Spokesman: Brooklyn Rabbi, Wife Killed; NYC Police Deploys Forces To Hotels, Jewish Centers
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Rabbi Gabriel Holztberg and wife Rivka.
CBS
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Indian security forces take cover behind vehicles during a heavy exchange of gunfire with terrorists outside the historic Taj Mahal hotel Mumbai on Nov. 28, 2008.
Indranil Mukherjee/AFP
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Indian National Security Guard commandos prepare to attack from the rooftop of Nariman House at Colaba Market in Mumbai on Nov. 28, 2008.
Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images
A Brooklyn rabbi and his wife were found among the dead in a series of terrorist attacks in India that have claimed more than 150 lives. In response to the attacks, the NYPD beefed up patrols around large hotels and Jewish centers, including the Lubavitch headquarters, said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.
The department already was on alert because of a warning earlier this week of a possible al-Qaida plot to strike the city's rail systems over the holidays.
"The threat is serious, the threat is significant, and it is plausible," said Congressman Peter King, R-Long Island, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.
There was anger and frustration on Friday at the Lubavitch world headquarters on Eastern Parkway.
"This news is fresh, and the wound is raw," Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky said.
Dead is Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his 28-year-old wife, Rivka, whose home was Brooklyn. They were the parents of two children. They ran the Chabad-Lubavitch of Mumbai, an overseas mission popular with Israeli tourists.
"Reports we heard around the world, he was a real mensch … a special person ... very, very special people," Rabbi Mosche Kotlarsky said through tears.
Also in the besieged Jewish center was the couple's son, who will turn 2 years old on Saturday. That child had been smuggled out with blood-stained pants, but was not hurt and is now safely with his grandparents. The other child is also safe.
Shortly after the Hertzbergs were found dead, psalms were recited for the couple who devoted their lives to the service of others.
Rabbi Shalom Paltiel grew up with Rabbi Holtzberg.
"He was a gifted scholar at the Yeshiva. He helped everybody," Rabbi Paltiel said. "He was a man of love, a man of heart."
The Holtzbergs arrived in Mumbai in 2003 to serve the local Jewish community. The two ran a synagogue, offering religious instruction and helping people dealing with drug addiction and poverty, Kotlarsky said.
For the past two days, the five-story headquarters of Chabad in Mumbai has been besieged by terrorists, with Indian commandos rappelling from helicopters in an attempt to root them out. A series of explosions and fire rocked the building and blew giant holes in the wall.
Authorities said three other hostages and two gunmen were also killed but they weren't immediately identified.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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