voa标准英语2008-Mumbai Mourns Fallen Rabbi, Wife

Mourning continues in Mumbai as the city limps back to normal after militant¹ attacks that killed about 175 people and injured more than 300 others. Among the funerals and memorial services was a remembrance for a rabbi and his wife who were killed in the attacks. Raymond Thibodeaux has this from Mumbai.
　

Moshe Holtzberg, the 2-year-old orphan2 of the rabbi and his wife slain3 in the Mumbai Jewish center, cries during a memorial service at a synagogue in Mumbai, 1 Dec. 2008

It was an emotional service for 29-year-old Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his 28-year-old wife, Rivkah. The Brooklyn, New York, couple ran the heavily damaged Chabad House, a Jewish outreach center, in the heart of Mumbai. It was one of at least 10 targets of the gunmen who rampaged through the city, bringing it to its knees for three days.

Indian sharpshooters took positions on the rooftops of nearby buildings. They watched over the powder-blue synagogue - just a 10-minute walk from the Taj Mahal Hotel, where the siege had ended. They also watched over the more than a hundred people who showed up for the memorial service, mostly Indian Jews and at least a dozen Israelis, including the Israeli ambassador to India and a top rabbi in the orthodox Jewish Chabad community.

Many of those at the memorial wept as the Jewish couple's two-year-old son, Moshe, rescued from the ordeal⁴ by his nanny, cried for his mother.

Levi Jurkowicz, 25, from New York, was at the service. Rabbi Holtzberg was his friend.

"We know that something terrible happened, but he was living his whole life for a cause and he died for it," he said. "And that is why we say 'l'chaim, l'chaim.' We believe he is still alive. Maybe it is not going to be his face, maybe it will be someone else's face. But it is going to be him. He is going to be there."

Jurkowicz, a cook who came to Mumbai to visit his sister, a friend of the Holtzbergs, has ended up having to prepare hundreds of kosher meals for many of the mourners. Like many here, he has not slept for days.

Reema Sisodia was a friend of Rivkah, the rabbi's wife.

"I never saw her as a rabbi's wife or something," she said. "She was somebody I bonded⁵ with. I could speak spirituality with her. She helped me heal on a lot of occasions. I have lost a friend."

Israel has criticized India's handling of the siege, in which about 10 assailants fanned out across the city, taking hostages at two luxury hotels and the Jewish center, killing⁶ and injuring scores of people.
　

National Security Guard commandos prepare a rope to tie onto a railing on the terrace of Nariman Bhavan, in Mumbai, 28 Nov 2008

At the Nariman House Complex, where the Holtzbergs managed the Chabad House Jewish center, Indian Navy commandos and sharpshooters stormed the building three days into the attacks. They killed at least two gunmen. The five hostages, the Holtzbergs among them, were dead.

Their son, Moshe, turned two on Saturday, the same day the Nariman House was stormed. Amid the chaos⁷ and violence, a group of family friends held a birthday party for him.

Jurkowicz was at the birthday.

"He had the birthday Saturday," he said. "We made him a birthday party. We had to have fun with with him. How?"

For Moshe they tried to be happy, and as Jurkowics said, grief is not allowed on the Sabbath.

1 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

2 orphan   

n.孤儿；adj.无父母的

参考例句：

• He brought up the orphan and passed onto him his knowledge of medicine.他把一个孤儿养大，并且把自己的医术传给了他。
• The orphan had been reared in a convent by some good sisters.这个孤儿在一所修道院里被几个好心的修女带大。

3 slain   

杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词)

参考例句：

• The soldiers slain in the battle were burried that night. 在那天夜晚埋葬了在战斗中牺牲了的战士。
• His boy was dead, slain by the hand of the false Amulius. 他的儿子被奸诈的阿缪利乌斯杀死了。

4 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

5 bonded   

n.有担保的，保税的，粘合的

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee.威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• This adhesive must be applied to both surfaces which are to be bonded together.要粘接的两个面都必须涂上这种黏合剂。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。