Mill Basin Chanukah House Display Remembers Mumbai Terror Victims

By Jason Linetsky

(From top ) Beth and Benny join parents and students from Queens Yeshiva; new decoration in memory of Mumbai terror victims; Yeshiva principal, Rabbi Tomsky, begins the lighting ceremony in front yard of Avenue TChanukah house. Photos by Jason Linetsky Dan and Beth Teitelbaum, their daughter Arielle and son Benny, invited neighbors to their Mill Basin home last week for their annual menorah lighting ceremony on the third night of Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. For the 13th consecutive year the Teitelbaums set up a modest Chanukah display in the front yard of their home on Avenue T.

As they have done every year since the tradition began, following an inquiry from Arielle when she was a child, the Teitelbaum's display included a new element to complement older ornaments, such as oversized dreidels (spinning tops), including one that rotates, and several small menorahs. This year's new addition is a distinctive new piece in honor of two Jewish victims of the November 27 terrorist attacks in India.

This year's display is dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, who were among the hundreds killed and injured in the terror bombings last month in Mumbai. The couple was personal friends of the Teitelbaums, so, in their honor, a new element for the display unveiled last week was dancing wooden rabbis with a Chabad menorah in the center and a plaque with the couple's names inscribed on it. Those who attended the December 23 lighting ceremony joined the Teitelbaums in paying respect to the slain husband and wife.

Rabbi Dr. Boaz Tomsky, principal of the Yeshiva of Belle Harbor in Queens, began the ceremony by lighting the Shamash (guard light), then the first three candles on the left side of the menorah. The crowd was invited to join in prayer for the third night of Chanukah, before children from the Yeshiva gathered around the display and sang such holiday tunes as "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel" and others.

Rabbi Tomsky told the gathering, "Chanukah is a time in which we embrace life, happiness, giving and think of others and hope that those thoughts continue throughout the year.

"It is appropriate that this is a tribute to the Holtzbergs. It was their mission to teach and spread love and kindness to the entire world and that's what the Teitelbaums are. They are very kind and giving people of themselves, opening their home, and teaching people about the rich heritage that Judaism has to offer."

At evening's end, each child was presented with a goodie bag containing a dreidel, a sheet of dreidel stickers, Chanukah gelt or foil covered chocolate coins, some pennies, and a piece of candy.