In 2003, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, left their friends and families in New York and Israel to run the Chabad house in Mumbai, India.
The Holtzbergs were among the nine people killed in the Chabad house in Mumbai during last week's terror attacks, said Rabbi Berl Goldman, director of Gainesville's Lubavitch-Chabad Jewish Student and Community Center.
On Tuesday night, the couple and more than 170 victims of the attacks were remembered by about 80 people at a memorial service at the center.
"We cannot imagine the ways of the Almighty nor try to make sense of the terrible and senseless events," Goldman told the crowd. "We are not obligated or expected to become God's defense attorney."
One of the couple's sons, 2-year-old Moshe, was rescued by his nanny, Goldman said. Their other son was not in Mumbai, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Goldman said the Holtzbergs did not leave for Mumbai under any superficial motivations.
"They did not do it for excitement, the money, the fame or the glory," Goldman said. "They did it out of a love for the Jewish people."
They took in Jewish travelers from across the world and provided them with food. Rivka baked more than 80 loaves of Kosher bread a week, Goldman said.
Goldman's wife, Chanie, also spoke at the service. Like her husband, she called on everyone in attendance to counteract the negative events in Mumbai with acts of love and kindness.
She said when the terrorists entered the Chabad house, "the forces of evil barged into a sanctum of holiness."
"(The terrorists) didn't realize that, had the circumstances been different, they would've been greeted with warm smiles and been invited to a warm home-cooked meal," she said. "But terrorists do not seek warmth and light."
Speaking of the future of the Chabad house in Mumbai, her husband said there are no plans to close it. As of Saturday, more than a dozen couples have offered to continue the Holtzbergs' legacy in Mumbai, he said.
"We will rebuild," he said.
Eric Bassan, a UF student and co-president of the Lubavitch-Chabad Student Group, said the attack on the Chabad house in Mumbai hit home for him.
"An attack there is just like an attack on our Chabad house in Gainesville," Bassan said.
