[6] Holtzberg and his wife were murdered during the 2008 Mumbai attacks perpetrated by the Islamic militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

[12] It was revealed by her father during her funeral that Rivka was five months pregnant with her fourth child at the time she was slain.

He installed a kosher kitchen and a mikvah at Nariman House, and taught the Torah, offered drug prevention services and ran a hostel there.

Holtzberg was a religious leader for that community, leading Friday night services at the Knesset Eliyahoo synagogue, also performing marriages for them, acting as the shochet (the kosher slaughtering of animals) and supplying the community with kosher meat, answering halakhic principles for them, such as what is to be done in the rites and customs of Judaism,[3][7][20] as well as being a trained Mohel (performing the circumcision or "bris" of Jewish babies).

[7] In addition to helping gather donations and do fund-raising for T'feret Israel and build an additional mikvah for the synagogue,[3] he and his wife also taught Jewish studies and the Torah to local Jews and tourists and provided their mikveh to be used by local Jews,[17] and made challah available to them.

Sandra Samuel, a maid at the house and the nanny for their 2-year-old son, Moshe, managed to escape with the boy.

We must respond by spreading our own message of tolerance and respect for people of other backgrounds and other beliefs.” Federal Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull and U.S. Consul-General Judith Fergin also spoke at the memorial service.

[24] Thousands of people attended the funeral of Holtzberg and his wife, with eulogies delivered in the town of Kfar Chabad followed by a procession to Jerusalem's ancient Mount of Olives cemetery, where the couple was buried.

[26][27] Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky vice chairman of Chabad's educational arm, Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, from New York, eulogized the couple at the funeral, saying "I vow that we will avenge the deaths of Gabi and Rivki.

[27] Kotlarsky also aimed his message at the couple's surviving son, Moshe, saying "You don't have a mother who will hug you.

"[28] In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, a memorial service was held for Gavriel and his wife at a Chabad synagogue, where almost 1,500 people attended.

The Israeli Government under Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni awarded Samuel a special visa offering immigration status.

That same year, Moshe accompanied Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, on a visit to Mumbai.