Dr. Aaron Abraham – From tragedy in Mumbai to a Jewish life in Israel
Was it tragedy or fate that brought Dr. Aaron Abraham and his family from India to Israel? Abraham was the family doctor for Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivki, the young couple who ran the Chabad House in Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay). On November 26, 2008, Islamic terrorists attacked several sites in the city, including Chabad. When Abraham learned that they had murdered five people inside the Jewish center, including the Holtzbergs, he was devastated.
Abraham’s initial encounter with the Holtzbergs took place several years ago while he was working in a Mumbai hospital. Rabbi Holtzberg came in on a Friday with one of his boys who needed to be admitted. Abraham could see the rabbi was worried about leaving his son over Shabbat, “so I offered to stay with the child,” Abraham recalls. From that point forward, the Holtzbergs turned to Abraham for all of their family medical needs.
Abraham then became a regular at the Holtzberg’s Shabbat table. For over five years, he walked up to an hour each way through the crowded Mumbai streets to celebrate the Sabbath with them each week. He participated in their Passover Seders, celebrated all the Jewish holidays, and learned Hebrew and Jewish law from the Holtzbergs. “We were very close,” Abraham says in fluent English. “We were never separated.” Indeed, after the attack, it was Abraham who had to take the couple to the morgue.
With the Holtzbergs gone, Abraham realized there was no future for him in India. “It was very hard, very difficult,” he explains. “I decided right away I had to come to Israel.”
But Abraham’s fateful journey to Judaism didn’t begin in Mumbai. Nearly 20 years earlier, Abraham – then known as Bhagirath Mohandas Prasad – began to question his Hindu upbringing, which he says he found to be unsatisfying.
After meeting some young American pastors in a local gym, who gave him a Bible, Abraham began to read it voraciously. “I liked the Old Testament very much,” he says, “especially the 10 Commandments. I wanted to live a pure and simple life.” The New Testament, he says, did not appeal to him.
At the time, he was working the night shift in a nursing home in Bombay. He met a young nurse who was also interested in reading from the Bible. The two were soon married.
When their first son was born, the couple decided to circumcise the child in accordance with Jewish law. Although neither was Jewish, Abraham decided to adopt a Hebrew name – “Aaron, after the High Priest, and Abraham after our forefather who, like me, searched for G d.” His wife, too, took on a Hebrew name – Malka – queen (her original Hindi name Rani had the same meaning). The Abrahams’ faith and commitment to halacha (Jewish law) grew stronger.
Now firmly on a Jewish path, Abraham and his wife wanted to undergo a formal conversion. They were initially turned down, but Abraham’s determination convinced a local rabbi who told him “there is a Jewish soul in you,” he recalls. The Abrahams were converted in India and then again a year ago in a full Orthodox ceremony following their arrival in Israel.
When Abraham decided the time had come to leave for Israel, he approached Shavei Israel. Shavei helped the Abrahams with financial support to get on their feet after their arrival in Israel in 2009.
Abraham and his family live today in Kiryat Arba. Some of his neighbors there belong to the Bnei Menashe, descendants of a Lost Tribe of Israel who also originate from India, although Abraham is not part of that community. He has been studying Hebrew in ulpan and Jewish subjects at the Machon Meir yeshiva in Jerusalem. He also prays regularly at the nearby Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron.
Aaron and Malka now have three children – an 18-year-old boy about to join the Israel Defense Forces, and two girls, ages 16 and 11.
Has he visited Moishe, the Holtzberg’s young son, who survived the terror attack in Mumbai by being whisked away by the Chabad Center’s cook? Yes, he says. “I visit him every month. We last met on Lag B’omer. He is very sweet boy and growing well.”
Abraham’s next hurdle will be to receive his license in Israel to begin practicing medicine again. He has already begun making informal rounds at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. “But I need to speak Hebrew in order to get the license,” he says.
In the meantime, Abraham, who describes himself as a “big Zionist,” gives lectures and tells his story to as many people as he can. “If someone is connected to G-d,” he says, “you will never be left alone. If you are sincere and you pray, G-d will look after you.” Just as He did for Dr. Aaron Abraham.