Six years on, Mumbai’s Chabad House reopens as museum and memorial

The smell of paint still hangs heavy in the air but it has not whitewashed the memories that haunt the Nariman House Chabad Centre in Mumbai.

The six-storey building, one of six places in the city attacked by terrorists on November 26, 2008, is reopening as a Jewish museum, memorial and spiritual centre, among other things.

Tucked away in a little lane leading up from the busy Colaba causeway marketplace, Chabad House was a low-profile centre of spiritual activity for local Jewish people and visitors.

But all that changed in 2008, when it became one of six locations in South Mumbai attacked by 10 terrorists, who killed 166 people over three terror-filled days.

Six Jews, including Rabbi Gabi Holtzberg and his wife Rivky, were killed at the centre. Their son, Moshe, had a miraculous escape, thanks to his nanny Sandra.

“At the funeral I had promised we would rebuild, and we have not left Mumbai for one day,” said Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, Vice-Chairman of the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch group, while announcing the reopening of the house, on Tuesday.

Over 25 rabbis from across Asia were expected to join the present directors of the House, Rabbi Yisroel and Chaya Kozlovsky, and participate in ceremonies around the reopening.

Giving details of the $2.5-million museum project, Nick Appelbaum, its lead designer, said the museum-cum-memorial would reflect the horrors of terrorism and commemorate the fallen. The museum will occupy the top two floors of the building. It will have shrapnel-shaped screens telling the story of the death and destruction in the city, he said.

“We don’t want to whitewash history … we will leave it the way the terrorists left it,” he said of some of the floors riddled with bullets and impacted by grenades. The other floors of the building, renovated as a restaurant and kitchen, synagogue and activities room, also bear memories of the chilling attack.

No details were divulged on when the museum would be ready or how the group would ensure security of the building in the crowded neighbourhood.

The museum would reflect universal moral principles, said Appelbaum, adding that, it was not a museum for Jews, Hindus or Muslims; “it is for everyone”.

The centre will also be India’s first-ever 26/11 memorial, and would bear the names of all the victims, he added.

The other locations that were targeted in the attacks were the Leopold Café, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Cama Hospital, Taj Hotel and Trident-Oberoi Hotel.

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