MUMBAI - The Chabad-Lubavitch sect, pushed into the spotlight after its center was targeted in the Mumbai attacks, will rebuild the damaged building, the group's country head said yesterday. Nariman House, which was nearly destroyed in a siege that killed 171 people in Mumbai, including Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, will reopen shortly, Rabbi Dov Goldberg said.
"The activities of Chabad-Lubavitch have to continue, and we cannot let this attack stop that," he told Reuters. "We will rebuild on the same site for now, and will look to expand the center and its activities," which, he said, would have "maximum security."
The six-story building, in a bustling market in the Colaba neighborhood, is a short distance from the luxury hotels and train station that were among the 10 sites attacked. The Holtzbergs and three other hostages were killed, but the couple's 2-year-old son, Moshe, was saved by his nanny and is with his maternal grandparents, Shimon and Yehudit Rosenberg, in Israel.
The Rosenbergs were interested in returning to Mumbai to run the center, Goldberg said, but a final decision has not yet been made.
Fewer than 5,000 Jews remain among India's 1.1 billion people, but the faith has a long history here, with the first established community thought to have been formed in 70 C.E.
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