In the midst of Black Friday in the U.S., above the din of post-Thanksgiving commercialism, we watched the news in horror, with guarded hope, for the outcome of the besieged Chabad Lubavitch center in Mumbai.  When it turned out that the humble Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, perished at the hands of murderers, the only solace was that their small son survived.

Two things resound with clarity in the wake of this horror:  the need for international cooperation and urgency in dealing with terrorism, and that Chabad Lubavitch works, even to its own peril, to demonstrate to the world the simple dignity of Jewish hospitality and outreach.  I know I would not be where I am today without Chabad Lubavitch’s far-flung emissaries--people like this kind rabbi and his wife who tirelessly work to repair both the world and the Jewish soul.