Mumbai Jewish Presence Rebuilds, Even as It Recalls Tragedy

Five years after the devastating terror attacks that claimed the lives of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, Chabad of Mumbai continues to rebuild.

Holding a burning torch in his hands, Jonathan Miller—Israel’s Consul General in Mumbai, India—ignited six lights on the large Chanukah menorah standing at the foot of the city’s iconic Gateway of India.

Five years earlier at the very same spot, Muslim terrorists landed surreptitiously on their way to committing acts of terror that would leave more than 160 people dead, including Mumbai’s Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg. But on this day five years later, about 250 people – Israeli backpackers, Jewish foreigners living in Mumbai, as well as the local community – gathered to mark the sixth night of Chanukah, and the victory of light over darkness.

The menorah-lighting at the Gateway of India was just one of multiple Chanukah events arranged by Rabbi Yisroel and Chaya Kozlovsky, the new directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of Mumbai. Among other events, a women’s evening was hosted by Chaya Kozlovsky, as well as a Chanukah party for the local Jewish community at the Knesset Eliyahu synagogue.

Since their arrival in Mumbai less than a year ago, the couple has made it a priority to complete the reconstruction of the Holtzbergs’ damaged Chabad House. Scheduled to reopen to within the next few months, the rebuilt center will include a mikvah, commercial kitchen, synagogue and restaurant. Plans additionally call for a museum teaching about Judaism and tolerance to take up the top two floors of the building, where the Holtzbergs lived—and died.

What is happening here is “the loudest way, the strongest way, of shouting out: ‘We will continue!’ ”

“While I was in New York recently for the International Conference of Chabad Lubavitch Emissaries, I met with designers at Ralph Appelbaum Associates,” says Rabbi Kozlovsky. “They will be coming to India in the next few weeks so that we can begin planning the museum.”

Ralph Appelbaum Associates is the renowned museum exhibit and visitor center design firm responsible for the look of the of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., as well as the new Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, Russia.

The museum will be housed in the Holtzberg’s own private apartment and on the floor where most of the cold-blooded murders occurred.

“People from all walks of life come to the Chabad House building and are moved to tears even now, years later,” explains the rabbi. “We want to harness that feeling, and by using interactive displays, teach people about what it means to be a Jew and the sacrifice that the Holtzbergs made.”

On Nov. 26—a day before Chanukah and two days before Thanksgiving in America—the Jewish community joined the rest of India in marking the fifth anniversary of what’s known locally as the 26/11 terror attacks, with memorial events held at the Knesset Eliyahu synagogue and at the unfinished Chabad House. Seven candles were lit—one for each victim at the Chabad House and an additional one for all of Mumbai’s victims.

At the memorial event at the Chabad House, Miller told CBS News that “the rebuilding of the center is perhaps one of the strongest symbols of the greatest victory over those terrorists who tried to create terror and change the way things are done.”

What is happening here is “the loudest way, the strongest way, of shouting out: ‘We will continue!’ ”

Jonathan Miller—Israel’s Consul General in Mumbai, India—ignited six lights on the large Chanukah menorah standing at the foot of the city’s iconic Gateway of India.

In addition to rebuilding and maintaining the Holtzbergs’ work in this city of 20 million, Kozlovsky has expanded Chabad activities as well. To meet the growing needs of Jewish travelers working in Mumbai’s new business district in the Bandra neighborhood, the rabbi opened a center there, offering daily minyanim and hospitality services.

“The business neighborhood is quite far from where we are, so I often travel between centers,” he says. “Now we have bochurim [yeshivah students] here to help with our work, so they are there on a regular basis.”

As the menorah in Mumbai is kindled for the last time this Chanukah, the eight lights will burn brightly, illuminating this corner of the world.

“We are moving back into Rabbi and Mrs. Holtzberg’s Chabad House because it’s where they sacrificed their lives,” stresses Kozlovsky. “Hopefully, we will succeed at finishing the work that they started.”