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The November terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India had reverberations throughout the global Jewish community. The murder of Lubavitch couple Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, however, was an especially personal loss for the Chabad of Hoboken.

Rabbi Holtzberg studied with Rabbi Moshe Schapiro of the Hoboken Chabad when the two were growing up in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, and he was also a cousin of Schapiro's wife, Shaindel.

Gavriel, at age 29, and Rivkah, at 28, were among the 183 people killed in the Mumbai attacks. On Nov. 26, terrorists took the Holtzbergs and the other guests at the Chabad house hostage for two days, though the couple's 2-year-old son Moshe was saved by his nanny.

"(Gavriel) was really the nicest guy out there, always smiling and never complaining," Schapiro said, adding that Gavriel was always at the top of the class in yeshiva. "I have never cried in my life as I have about this. It's truly like losing a brother on the front line."

About 80 people attended a memorial service for the Holtzbergs at the Boys and Girls Club of Hoboken Dec. 4, one of numerous memorials for the slain couple throughout New Jersey and the rest of the country.

After the reading of several psalms of Tehillim, a video presentation about the Holtzbergs' lives, and condolences from Hoboken Mayor David Roberts, Schapiro spoke about the challenge of turning the tragic loss of the Holtzbergs into something positive by performing good deeds each day in the couple's memory.

"You fight hatred with love, and you fight darkness with light," Schapiro told Jewish Life in an interview the week after the memorial. "If 10 evil people can create such terror in one of the largest cities in the world, think about if 10 of us can get together in an act of good. It would truly make the world a better place."

In that spirit, the service closed with the kickoff of a "Mitzvah Dedication" drive to honor the Holtzbergs, encouraging members of the community to fill out cards in which they pledged to perform acts such as lighting Shabbat candles, studying Torah, and giving charity. Similar pledges can be mailed to the Chabad or made on its Web site.

When the memorial ended, the somber atmosphere was evident when attendees filed out of the building silently, Schapiro said.

"Most people took the words in and got out without talking," Schapiro said. "They understood that the service is now over, but our mission continues."

The Holtzbergs would host 30 to 40 people for dinner every Friday night in Mumbai, Schapiro said, slaughtering 200 chickens and baking 80 to 90 challas each week in catering to the city's 4,500 Jews as well as Israeli, American, and European visitors.

"They truly opened their hearts as to what a Chabad House truly is: a place of service to people," Schapiro said. "They left the comforts of the West and dedicated their lives to humanity."

Schapiro said that the last time he saw Rabbi Holtzberg was about a year or two ago in New York. When Schapiro asked Gavriel about the challenge of serving such a large crowd in Mumbai, Schapiro recalled that Gavriel was humble and brushed off the significance of his efforts, replying something along the lines of, "Yeah, I guess we have a lot of people."

Schapiro stressed that it is important to take a broader perspective as well by memorializing everyone who was killed. That is why biographies of three random individuals, all non-Jews, were read during the memorial service that Schapiro organized.

"Yes, for us it's very near to lose a colleague, but we wanted to make this for all," Shapiro said. "Every person is a whole world."