Twins Named Gabi and Rivki

By Menachem Cohen, COL.org.il

At an emotional bris ceremony held Tuesday in Kfar Chabad, many cried as the name of the boy was announced: “Gavriel Noach.”

14 months ago, terrorists struck Chabad in Mumbai, India, and killed five people – including the Shluchim Rabbi Gavriel Noach and his wife Rivka Holtzberg.

Despite the tremendous pain, there were those who resolved from that day to increase in good deeds. One such couple is Rabbi Avigad and his wife Nechami Akiva, the shluchim to the Israeli city of Rosh HaAyin.

“My wife took the events in Mumbai very personally,” Rabbi Akiva told COL. “She always sought to do as much as she could in the memory of the Holtzbergs.”

Mrs. Akiva returned from the 5769 Kinus Hashluchos in New York with a photo of the Holtzbergs that was distributed to participants.

When she returned home, she hung the photo in a prominent place.

“She said, ‘The terrorists tried to extinguish the life of shluchim, I want to add to it.’ She prayed for twins – which she would name after the Holtzbergs.”

G-d answered her prayers. Last week, the couple embraced a healthy set of twins. “It was a miracle,” says Rabbi Akiva.

The Sandek at the bris was Rabbi Shimon Rosenberg, father of Rivka Holtzberg.

“When I invited him to the bris last week and told him the story, he was very moved,” said Akiva.

The twins join the nearly 800 babies who have been named for the Holtzbergs, but are the first set of twins to carry their names.