Chabad House in South Mumbai was badly damaged after the 26/11 attack. This is how it was restored to its former self while retaining its past character.
Mumbai: It took suggestions from rabbis from across the world, and some tips from the Israeli government to restore the Chabad House in Mumbai after the November 2008 terror attack. And nine years after he lost his parents there, 11-year-old Moshe Holtzberg returned to the building Tuesday.
Moshe arrived in Mumbai with his grandparents from Afula in Israel. He was just two-years-old when his father, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, and his pregnant mother Rivka, were killed in the attack on Chabad House on 26 November 2008.
The head of the firm that restored the building located in a South Mumbai lane told ThePrint that they had started the restoration work about 10 months after the attack.
“The whole building was in a bad shape, certain portions of the structure were hanging. Fire and explosive damage had caused a couple of columns to crack fully,” Sailesh Mahimtura, Chairman of Mumbai-based Mahimtura Consultants, told ThePrint.
The city’s civic body roped in the firm to restore Chabad House in 2009 and it was reopened after work was completed in 2014. The company has also restored a portion of the Oberoi Hotel, another target of the 2008 attack.
What has changed
Chabad House is a centre of the ultra-orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch movement. The building is located in a narrow lane in Colaba and a number of modifications were needed after the attack.
Mahimtura said the interiors, and all the belongings of Moshe’s parents, were completely destroyed in the terror attack.
“With the help of my wife who is an interior designer, we reconstructed the interiors as close to its previous form as possible, while also incorporating a few things lacking in the original structure,” he said.
Rabbis from the Philippines, Thailand, New York and Israel helped by sharing pictures and descriptions of the original structure. Mahimutra said they also sent ideas on how to improve the building.
“For instance, in their community, menstruating women need separate washrooms, so we incorporated that in the restored structure. They prepare kosher food, so the kitchen was designed to better cater to their style of cooking,” Mahimutra said.
He said the building has also been made more secure.
“Officials dealing with artificial intelligence came in to suggest measures to ensure that something like the 26/11 attack on the building never happens again. In discussion with them, we have put some additional security measures in the building, but we cannot talk about these in detail,” Mahimutra said.
The firm also refurbished the first floor to incorporate the kitchen and dining area. The second and the third floors contain a place of worship, and space for religious and community events.
The upper floors have been set aside for a memorial for the victims of the 2008 attack with a focus on the lives of Moshe’s parents. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will formally announce plans for a memorial when he visits Chabad House Thursday with Moshe.
“We decided to keep the bullet marks and damage to the walls of the higher floors as it was. All rabbis and Jewish community members who were involved in the process wanted the place to be turned into a memorial. I am glad it is happening now. And I am happy that baby Moshe has grown up and is visiting the house,” Mahimtura said.