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At a recent reunion Rabbi Mendy Carlebach attended in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, the memories focused on one particular classmate.

Reflecting on the life of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, the former Chabad shaliach, or emissary, in Mumbai, India, who was killed by terrorists one year ago, the group prayed on Shabbat morning with Holtzberg's father and shared some stories Carlebach knew, some he hadn't heard, but all in the spirit of performing acts of goodness and kindness in his memory.

"It was a true testament to who the rabbi was," Carlebach, leader of the Chabad of North and South Brunswick, said of the reunion.

This week, Chabad-Lubavitch centers in central New Jersey and worldwide are commemorating Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, two of six victims at Mumbai's Chabad house on Nov. 26, 2008. Islamic terrorists took over the house in part of a plot to attack 10 populated spots in the financial heart of India.

In 2003, the Holtzbergs left the cozy confines of Crown Heights to dedicate their lives to the Jewish Indian community and to Jewish travelers from around the globe passing through Mumbai's financial district.

Holtzberg "was very unique" for giving up a comfortable life in New York and making the difficult move to India with his wife and three children, Carlebach said.

"[Holtzberg] would always go to the nth degree to reach out to everyone," he said.

Like many Chabad rabbis and other community members, Rabbi Moshe Schapiro of the Chabad of Hoboken now has a picture of the Holtzbergs in his dining room, and sometimes cries when he sees it. Since Schapiro's brother was Holtzberg's classmate in Crown Heights, Schapiro got the chance to meet Holtzberg about a year-and-a-half before the tragedy.

In an indication of just how humble Holtzberg was, he downplayed the task of hosting large Friday night or weekday dinners at the Mumbai Chabad house in his conversation with Schapiro.

"He was just like 'yeah, that's what we do'," Schapiro recalled.

One year later, it's still painful to look at the photo of the "nice young couple," Schapiro said, but he emphasized that "what we can do is take those tears and turn it into some positive act" through dedicating our daily mitzvot to the Holtzbergs.

In fact, since the first Shabbat service after the Mumbai attacks one year ago, more people have been coming to the Chabad of North and South Brunswick, Carlebach said.

"I'm sure that Gabi and Rivka are up on high looking down pleased with all the good being done in their name," Carlebach said.

Ever since the Holtzbergs' death, it has been important to keep in mind that even on slow days in our lives, we can give an extra effort for them, said Rabbi Mendy Herson, leader of the Chabad of Somerset, Hunterdon, and Union Counties in Basking Ridge.

"We have enhanced appreciation for every day and an enhanced appreciation for their unbounded, unparalleled love for their fellow," Herson said.

Rabbi Aryeh Goodman of the Chabad of East Brunswick explained the community's perspective on life after the Holtzbergs' death through a concept in Hassidic philosophy that God created one force to counter another. You know you are doing the right thing "when there are forces trying to stop you," Goodman said, meaning that instead of seeing the Mumbai tragedy as a setback, the event serves as an inspiration to fight darkness with light.

"We Jews, the way we operate, when someone is trying to undermine our efforts, we don't say, 'maybe we should just give up,' [or] 'we should stop doing good'; rather, we double and redouble our efforts and always increase our efforts," Goodman said. "We don't respond that we're going to scale back, we respond by working even harder."

In a Web page called "The Legacy of Mumbai," Chabad.org features a summary of the events of Nov. 26, 2008 and the lives of the six victims, a full list of memorial events for the Holtzbergs, a message board to post memories, a video on the Holtzbergs' lives, and information on how to donate to the Chabad of Mumbai Relief Fund. To see the Web site, visit www.chabad.org/generic_cdo/aid/774747/jewish/Legacy-of-Mumbai.htm.