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Chabad Jewish Center in Basking Ridge, Chabad Jewish Center of Southern Somerset County, and Chabad of Hunterdon County held a joint memorial service for the terror attacks in Mumbai on Dec. 7 at Raritan Valley Community College, North Branch. The event featured the head rabbis from these centers; Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula (D-Somerset), the first Indian-American in New Jersey to be elected to public office; and Adrian Berg, a Chabad attendee who took a step beyond just grieving.

"Gabi and Rivki Holtzberg moved out to India about five years ago to fulfill the Rebbe's vision and will to make the world a better place, to lighten up the darkness," said Rabbi Shmaya Krinsky of the Chabad Jewish Center of Southern Somerset County. "Gandhi said, 'Be the change you want to see in the world.' This was a couple that lived that life."

Krinsky's father worked for OK Kosher supervisors and had visited India many times, along with the many other workers in kosher supervision, diamond dealers, and Israeli soldiers released from duty who frequently passed through Chabad of Mumbai.

"Every single person was welcome there with an open heart, a smile," Krinsky said. "Do you get overwhelmed when it comes to Thanksgiving? Think about having Thanksgiving every single day. Think about hosting 30, 40, 50 people every single day. And, your home, Chabad, is always open, always comfortable, always smiling to people. This is what Gabi and Rivki did every single day."

Every speaker who discussed the Holtzbergs had words of praise for the work they did.

"If the murderous terrorists killed and maimed without discrimination, with the hope of causing the greatest shock and pain, then Gabi and Rivki helped and loved people without prejudice and indiscriminately," said Rabbi Eli Kornfeld of the Chabad of Hunterdon County. "Evil knows no bounds to its hatred. Their acts of goodness knew no bounds in their affection and love. They truly exemplified selfless love and caring."

"What you saw here [in Mumbai] are people who are very ready immediately to get out of their comfort zone," said Chabad member Adrian Berg. "It wasn't long before they achieved more - buying a building, building the mikvah, creating a hospitality center, and there is no doubt in my mind that they would have taken up more and more things out of their comfort zone."

The news of the Holtzbergs' passing was nothing short of shocking to Rabbi Mendy Herson, director of the Chabad of Greater Somerset County.

"This is a gut-wrenching experience," Herson said. "Friday morning [Dec. 5], when there was the conclusive news, it hit me like a ton of bricks."

As his day went on, Herson found comfort in the most unusual of places.

"The Baptist minister was [at my door]," Herson said. "He had come to give me a hug! He just said, 'I heard that there was an attack, that there were Jews who died in the Chabad house.' And we gave each other a hug. It made me feel very good."

Right before Shabbat began, an Indian family arrived at the Chabad house to worship and look for words of comfort from Herson. After the family said their prayers, the parents asked Herson to explain the day's events to their children.

"And I said to the kids that your parents came because some really horrible things happened in Mumbai," Herson said. "People were really mean to other people and cruel. It all comes form something we call intolerance."

Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula (D-17) expressed his sympathy to the Jewish community over the horrors in Mumbai. The biggest shock for him was that such a horrific event could happen in Mumbai, a place where all religions co-existed with no disturbance for centuries.

"I don't know how to express this anger [and] sorrow," Chivukula said. "It was very barbaric and has really snatched so many lives, so many families, in so many different ways. This is the first time, after many centuries, that this (co-existence) was breeched by this horrific act of some cowardly people [who] were trying to hurt good people who love freedom."

Chivukula emphasized the importance in uniting the Hindu and Jewish communities in the aftermath of the crisis.

"Like the United States has 9/11, India has 11/26," Chivukula said. "One of the Indian scriptures talks about the whole world being a family. We are connected in more than one way. We have all experienced a tragedy."

Chivukula has spearheaded interfaith efforts in the past, including an event where Hindu children lit the Hanukkah menorah and Jewish children lit traditional Hindu diwali lights.

"We have a lot in common and so we have to figure out how we can draw from this, how we can move forward," Chivukula said. "Of course, we cannot forget what has happened… We can fight evil with courage and we have to move forward. I share your sorrow, just like you share the Indians' sorrow. In sharing that, we also have a lot of good things that we can share together."

Kornfeld also offered words of hope and courage, urging the attendees to turn their negative feelings into progress.

"As we return to a state of normalcy and complacency, I feel that it is important to capture the moment where our emotions are high, because the window tends to close quite rapidly, transforming our tears into rallying cries," Kornfeld said. "The response to tragedy is one that should include an action plan. The best way to pay tribute to those who lost their lives is to reflect on their lives and see ways to incorporate it in virtue, in value, that personified their life and spirit."

One solution was created by Berg, who had visited India just a few months before the attacks. She was compelled to action by the kindness that the Holtzbergs were known to embody. She founded an online community, www.mygabiandrivkah.com, to support those who want to act, but do not know where to start.

"How do we make a difference on a day to day basis?" Berg said. "I realized that the key to this is actualizing our goodness. The word 'goodness' came to me immediately. You can't see these people, even on a film and even after their demise, without thinking of the word 'goodness'."

Berg told the attendees that there are three ways to actualize goodness: increasing what one may already do, acting on intentions, and extending beyond one's comfort zone, what Berg calls "the Gabi and Rivkah way."

"The Web site has a few words about this tragedy, but very few," Berg said. "What it really does is it asks you to write a story about your intention and how you are going to actualize it. I find it easier to do something if I tell somebody else I'm going to do it."

"What Adrian Berg was talking about is the idea of eternal goodness in the little things, in being able to look at ourselves every day and say, 'can I get beyond myself'?" Herson said. "To think just a little bit today, and maybe a little bit more than yesterday, 'What I'm doing in my life is I'm living the kind of life and Gabi and Rivkah led'."