Mumbai is Under Construction

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is scheduled to visit Chabad’s Nariman House on November 17th in Mumbai.

In India on a three-day state visit, the Conservative leader will pay tribute to the victims of the Islamic terrorist attack on the site, on the first anniversary of the event.

Six Jews, including Chabad Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka were murdered in the attack, but their two year old son Moshe was saved by their Indian nanny.

Harper is considered an outspoken friend of Israel and is close with the Chabad movement in Canada, hosting a Chanuka lighting last year and inaugurating a Chabad Shul in Ontario.

A reporter for the Indian DNA news wire who visited the Mumbai Chabad House Sunday said he saw a pair of small shoes in a fourth-floor apartment of the six-storey building.

“The mattresses and pillows, used by the rabbi’s family, were wrapped in transparent plastic sheets, which did not hide the blood stains on them,” he wrote.

Reconstruction work began on Sunday at Nariman House.

“A first-floor room, which used to be the dining room, still looked as if the mayhem had taken place just a day before. The walls were riddled with bullets; at places, there were blood stains. On the ceilings and the floors were deep dents made by grenades.

“On the fourth and the fifth floor, where the rabbi’s family used to live, bore many more testimonies to the tragedy. There were crumpled belongings of Moshe and his parents scattered on the floor. In the kitchen were several half-burnt candles. Perhaps, they were used by the terrorists after power supply to Nariman House was cut off during the rescue operation.

“On the third floor was a prayer room. It used to have shelves full of religious books, which used to attract lots of visitors. Half of those have gone missing. The remaining have been sealed by security agencies.

“The first floor of the building, where the three American passport-holding Israelis were killed, was in complete mess. Hundreds of cans of packed food were strewn on the floor. Perhaps, the Holtzberg’s had stored them as they used to serve food to many people everyday.

“The lift of the building had been badly damaged — its doors blown away. It will have to be replaced. Water and electricity connections, which were severed after the attack, will be restored before November 26.”