Friday evening, as they observed the Sabbath, local Jews also prayed for those in Mumbai.
Rabbi Peretz Mochkin was a childhood friend of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, one of the people killed at the Chabad center in Mumbai; before losing the phone connection, Holtzberg told Mochkin that "the situation doesn't look too good."
At the India Consulate in San Francisco, employees watched the coverage amidst heightened security. They have been taking calls from people with friends and family in Mumbai looking for information, but the fates of many remain unknown.
Despite the tragedy, the Jewish community is rejoicing in one life that was saved, Holtzberg's 2-year-old son, who was smuggled out of the building by a cook and reunited with his grandfather.
"I'm sure he knew his kid got out and everything else was second to that," Mochkin said.
