Six years after it was ravaged and bloodied in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks the Jewish community building, Chabad Centre in Nariman House here, will reopen Tuesday, a statement said Monday.
The fully renovated Nariman House, in south Mumbai's Colaba area, will be blessed by a special gathering of 25 Rabbis representing the Jewish community from all over Asia.
The six-storey headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch of Mumbai was targeted by a group of Pakistani terrorists in the Nov. 26-29, 2008 attacks. Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, his pregnant wife Rivky and four others were killed in the attack.
Their two-year old son, Moshe Holtzberg was saved by his Indian nanny, Sandra Samuel, and they later shifted to Israel's Afula city.
Despite the horrific tragedy, Chabad-Lubavitch continued its activities from various temporary locations around Mumbai, catering to the spiritual and physical needs of the city's Jews and visitors.
Presently, it is headed by Rabbi Israel Kozlovsky and his wife Chaya, who are its directors.
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A Jewish Museum will be set up on the fourth and fifth floors of Nariman House at a cost of $ 2.50 million.
A group of 25 Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbis from Asian countries like Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and others shall convene at the newly renovated centre for the Asian regional gathering of Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbis Tuesday.
Rabbi Moshe Motlarsky, vice-chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch, said that this (reopening) is really a message for the whole world.
A total of 166 persons were killed, and over 300 injured in the attacks which targeted Hotel Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Hotel Trident-Oberoi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Leopold Cafe, Nariman House, Cama Hospital and other locations in the city.