Six Years After Mumbai Attack, Chabad House Reopens

Yesterday , the 27th of August, Chabad of Mumbai celebrated the opening of the newly renovated Nariman House Chabad Center, a six story building in the heart of downtown Mumbai. The building was ravaged by terrorists who stormed the Chabad House in November 2008, murdering six Jews, including Chabad representatives Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg.

The attack generated a universal outpouring of outrage, grief and support for the work of Chabad shluchim and their commitment to Jewish life wherever they are needed. In a statement by Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, Chairman of the educational and social services of Chabad-Lubavitch, upon learning of the murders, he vowed that Chabad would rebuild the Chabad House and reopen it. “We will not cower in the face of terrorism. We will rebuild the center, and in the interim maintain a constant, uninterrupted presence of Shluchim serving the Jewish community in Mumbai.”

Indeed, following the seven day shivah mourning period for the shluchim, Chabad Headquarters began sending rotating pairs of rabbinical students to the city to continue the work of the Holtzbergs.

In 2013, Chabad Headquarters appointed Rabbi Yisroel and Chaya Kozlovsky as Chabad emissaries to Mumbai, where they have been serving the city’s Jewish community and Jewish travelers.

“The motto is that we are not fighting the darkness with an AK-47. Our way to get rid of the darkness is by adding more light,” Rabbi Kozlovsky told The Indian Express.

“You can overcome challenges, even the most horrific of challenges. You can and must rebuild, and this building serves as a beacon of light and hope that evil will not prevail,” Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice- chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch said.

The grand opening, which was marked by a Torah dedication ceremony, happened alongside a conference for Asia’s 25 full-time shluchim, organized by Rabbi Yosef Chaim Kantor, Chabad representative to Thailand. 

The reopening of the Chabad House with more than 25 area Chabad representatives serves as a powerful symbol of perseverance, an unshakeable belief in the power of light over darkness.