The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 02

The International News Weekly July 07, 2017 | Toronto 06
'BABY MOSHE' is the biggest highlight of
Narendra Modi's visit to Israel
The Canadian Parvasi
Many images from
the November 26,
2008, terror attacks
on Mumbai in which 164
people were killed and
over 300 seriously injured
will stand out in public
memory forever.
Who can forget the
iconic Taj Mahal Hotel
in flames? Who can forget
the massacre in the
lobby of that hotel? Who
can forget the images of
the lone surviving terrorist
Ajmal Kasab walking
in the Chhatrapati Shivaji
Terminus railway station
and the bloodshed in the
railways station?
And who can forget National
Security Guard commandos
slithering down
a rope from helicopters to
land on Nariman House to
take on the terrorists?
These images will forever
sear public memory.
But the most heartbreaking
images from
those terror attacks were
those of two-year-old Israeli
Jewish boy Moshe who
parents - Rabbi Gavriel
Holtzberg and wife Rivka
- were killed by the terrorists.
Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg,
29, and his wife
Rivka, 28, ran the Chabad-
Lubavitch Centre at Nariman
House, and they
were killed with their four
guests.
Moshe was saved by his
nanny Sandra from Kerala.
Sandra hid through
the night-long gunfire and
then ran out with Moshe to
save herself and the little
boy.
The tears and cries
of this little boy saying
'Imma, Imma’ (Mom in
Hebrew) at the funeral
service for his parents in
Mumbai on November 30,
2008, broke the heart of Indians
who watched those
scenes on TV.
Those touching scenes
forged deep emotional
bonds between the Indian
people and Moshe who,
along with his nanny, was
flown from India to live in
Israel on December 1, 2008.
The little became `Baby
Moshe’ to millions and millions
of Indians.
Those deep emotional
bonds between 'Baby
Moshe’ and the Indian
people were furthered
deepened on July 5
when Prime Minister
Narendra Modi met
Moshe, who almost
11 years old now is
no longer a baby and
lives with his grandparents
at Afula which
is about 90 km from Jerusalem.
"Namaste, aapka
swagat hai hamare desh
mein,’’ said Moshe in Hindi,
welcoming the Indian
PM who was accompanied
by his host Prime Minister
Netanyahu.
As Modi spoke with
him, Moshe said, "I love to
play, I try to be a good student...Please
continue to
love me, always remember
my parents.’’
Moshe said he hoped to
visit to Mumbai. "When I
live there I will be the director
of Chabad House,’’ said
the little boy to the Indian
PM.
Modi hugged him and
told him that "anytime you
c a n
come to India, anytime you
can go." Moshe’s saviour
and his nanny Sandra was
also present at the meeting.
Moshe is studying to become
a rabbi.
Sandra says she is happy
that he is becoming a
big boy now. She calls him
`Sonu.’
"Moshe is going to enter
his teens, he loves football…
(Lionel) Messi or
Massi, what is the name of
that player? He loves him.
Also, Ronaldo. He has also
started playing basketball,
and ping-pong,” she told the
Indian Express.
According
to Sandra,
Moshe has
no memories
of the terror
attacks.``No,
nothing, he was
just a baby then.
But I am waiting
for him to ask those
questions. I remember
everything, it’s like a
framed picture or a movie
in my head. Those hellish
moments are stuck in my
head.’’ Sandra, 53, was given
an honorary citizenship
by Israel in 2010. Though
she now works at a child
rehabilitation centre in Jerusalem,
every weekend
she travels 95 km to Afula to
be with Moshe as she is still
the closest person to him.
Sandra has two grown
up children in India, but
she says she has ``a more
personal connection with
Moshe than with my own
children. He means more to
me than my children.’’
Moshe said he
hoped to visit to
Mumbai. "When
I live there I will
be the director
of Chabad
House,’’ said
the little boy to
the Indian PM.
Modi hugged
him and told him
that "anytime
you can come to
India, anytime
you can go."