Of all the genres of interviews, those conducted by the media with family and friends of victims of tragedy are among the most difficult and often least successful.
A remarkable exception to that rule comes in the form of the interview David Gregory conducted on this morning's Today show with Rabbi Shalom Paltiel, who was a friend of the Chabad couple murdered in Mombai and is a fellow member of the Chabad movement.
Gregory demonstrates knowledge and sensitivity, and Rabbi Paltiel exhibits a faith and optimism in the face of tragedy that people of all faiths should find inspiring. I encourage people to watch. The exchange is dignified, lacking in the kind of maudlin sentimentality that can occur in this kind of interview. And with an absence of bathos, the rabbi gives a wonderful explanation of who the Holtzberg couple were, what the Chabad movement is about, and how it looks to the future.
