WARWICK — With silent prayer, solemn chanting, and spirited words of hope and resolution, Rabbi Yossi Laufer yesterday led a morning service remembering all those who died in last week’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. A young rabbi originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., and his wife were among those who were killed.

In his remarks, midway through the hour-long service, Laufer urged the more than 30 people in attendance to perform a good deed –– any good deed –– in honor of the dead.

“They don’t have to be big or small,” Laufer said. “It’s about your effort and a sincere commitment to doing something to keeping their legacy alive.”

And while good deeds will help those here on earth, the rabbi said, they will also count toward higher purpose.

“God has a scale,” Laufer said. “He knows that there are two sides to the scale. There is goodness and there’s evil. And the only thing God wants is for us to tip the scale to the side of goodness.”

His remarks echoed those of his father, Providence’s Rabbi Yehoshua Laufer, leader of Rhode Island’s Chabad Lubavitch movement, who in the wake of last week’s attacks said that “all people have the power of light. A little bit of light can push away the darkness.” Two more of the senior Laufer’s sons are also rabbis in the state.

Among the more than 170 people who died last week in Mumbai were Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivkah, former residents of Brooklyn, N.Y., where the worldwide Chabad Lubavitch movement is headquartered. Chabad operates nearly 4,000 centers around the globe, including four in Rhode Island: the Warwick center on Post Road where yesterday’s service was held, a center in Barrington, and two in Providence.

Although he did not know the Holtzbergs, Yossi Laufer said that he had been to their Brooklyn house and had met members of their family. He did not have to know the dead personally to understand their mission of helping others, he said.

“Each Chabad place does different things,” Laufer said. “It’s always formed by what the community needs. In Mumbai, India, they must have needed extremely warm and dedicated people. So they sent Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife and their children to live there.

“It was heartbreaking on Friday to go to their Web site and see a big announcement on their Web site: Free kosher meals every day, 8 p.m. I don’t have this in my house here. That must be the need in India.”

Many of those in attendance at yesterday’s service wore tefillin, traditional Jewish prayer boxes, and tallit, a traditional Jewish prayer shawl. They and the rabbi read from the Siddur, or prayer book. Much of the service was conducted in Hebrew, with the closing prayer in English.

Among the many chants was a reminder of God’s goodness. Translated from Hebrew, it reads:

“He sustains the living with loving kindness, resurrects the dead with great mercy, supports the falling, heals the sick, releases the bound, and fulfills His trust to those who sleep in the dust.”

Laufer distributed copies of a Mitzvah Appeal, with suggestions for deeds that would “continue the legacy and life of Rabbi and Mrs. Holtzberg of Chabad of India and the many others who perished in the attacks on Mumbai.” Among the suggestions: prayer, lighting candles, and giving to charity.

“Imagine how the families will feel when thousands of people around the world are doing one good deed in honor of their souls,” Laufer said.

The rabbi also urged the faithful to send messages of condolence. A paper form was provided.

Retired public-school music teacher Stanley L. Freedman was among those who were moved by the service. “I came particularly today because of what happened,” he said.

Freedman found symbolism in the deaths of two Jews in Mumbai –– deaths that, to him, were a reminder of the Holocaust and other attempts to permanently silence those of his faith.

“God wants us here for what we represent to the world,” Freedman said.

And that, he said, is the spirit represented yesterday, when people came together to pray and re-commit themselves to goodness.

For more on the Chabad movement and to post condolences, visit www.chabad.org

Rabbi Yossi Laufer’s Chabad site is at www.RabbiWarwick.com

gwmiller@projo.com