More than nine years after he lost his parents but survived the 26/11 attacks under traumatic circumstances, then Baby Moshe and now 11-year-old Moshe Holtzberg on Tuesday returned to Mumbai and visited the Jewish outreach centre Chabad House — better known as Nariman House — to revive his babyhood memories.
Ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrival in Mumbai on Thursday to unveil plans for a state-of-the-art living Memorial at Nariman (Chabad) House for all the victims of the 26/11 terror attacks, Moshe — along with his former nanny Sandra Samuel — visited Chabad House, where his parents Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg were killed during the Mumbai mayhem.
“Shalom….bahut khushi,” was what Moshe – sporting a small brimless cloth cap called ‘kippah’ — had to say, when mediapersons buttonholed him for a comment, on his arrival at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here at 8 am. He later checked into the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, located in front of iconic Gateway of India. “I want to pray in Nariman House, where Moshe’s parents were killed... Moshe likes the people of India and loves the country. He wants to thank PM Modi,” Moshe’s grandfather. Shimon Rosenberg, who was accompanying the boy said.
later in the afternoon, Moshe and his family members, including Sandra, visited the Chabad House. They were warmly received there by the present Rabbi Israel Kozlovsky, who also heads the Chabad Trust in India, along with his toddler child and other officials.
Moshe and his grandparents offered a brief but solemn prayer at the small synagogue here, visited the library and various other rooms, including the one in which his parents were felled by the terrorists bullets during the 26/11 attacks.
Tuesday’s was Moshe’s first visit to Mumbai and Chabad House, where he lived along with his parents before the 26/11 attacks. After the Mumbai siege, Moshe had left for Israel along with his nanny Sandra to live with his grandparents.
Moshe’s parents Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg were among 166 people killed in the November 26-29, 2008 Pakistani fidayeen attacks on five Mumbai terror targets, including two five-star hotels, a popular café, a train terminus and the Jewish learning centre.
Moshe, then a two-year old child, had been rescued by 44-year-old housemaid Sandra Samuel on November 28, 2008, after the two terrorists killed his parents and four others at the Nariman House. Moshe now lives in Israel with his grandparents and Sandra moved with him to take care of the orphaned child. The Israeli honoured her with the title of ‘Righteous Gentile’, the highest award presented to non-Jews, and allowed her an extended stay there.
The Chabad House that Moshe visited on Tuesday is a partially re-built five-storey structure, a grey coloured building at Colaba in South Mumbai – which had suffered heavy damage owing to an intense firing indulged in by the two Pakistani terrorists holed up on its premises during the 26/11 attacks.
Nearly six years after the Pakistani terrorists wreaked mayhem on its premises killing six persons, the Chabad House had formally been thrown open by Jewish group Chabad-lubavitch on August 26, 2014 in the presence of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg’s parents
and 25 Rabbis from across Asia.
Rebuilt at the cost of 2.5 million US dollars with contributions from the Rohr family in the US and the global Jewish community, the Nariman House now houses a restaurant on the first floor, a synagogue on the second floor, and a community hall on the third floor.
Moshe used to live with his parents on the fifth floor of Chabad House. The fourth and fifth floors of the building, which once housed the guest rooms and the Rabbi’s residence respectively, have been converted into a museum, while the roof top terrace will house a memorial to 26/11 terror attack victims.
The second floor which houses a small synagogue on the right side has a plaque installed showing the exact spots where Rabbi Gabriel and two other Rabbis guests were shot dead when the Pakistani gunmen stormed the centre around 9.45 pm on the night of Nov 26, 2008.
A memorial of sorts has been created at the place where Moshe’s slain father Rabbi Gavriel’s body lay after he was gunned down by Pakistani terrorists with a message that reads: “Here was slain Emissary Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, May Hashem avenge his blood, May his soul be bound up in the bond of life.”
Eight bullet marks on the wall next to it have been kept intact as the grim reminder of the killings. The Rabbi’s wife Rivka was on the top floor with three other guests who were held hostage by the two gunmen and eventually killed.
During Moshe’s visit to Chabad House, Sandra took him and grandparents around the room where Moshe’s parents were killed.
She recounted the chilling events of those days to him and his grandparents.
At one point, Rabbi Kozlovsky, his wife and Samuel posed before a large portrait of Moshe’s slain parents which hangs in one of the corridors of Chabad House, most of which has undergone a renovation.
The fourth floor, which has been refurbished, is scarred with hundreds of bullet marks on its roof, a reminder of the fierce gun battle that ensued here. However, a collapsed side wall has been rebuilt.
On the fifth floor living quarters, baby Moshe’s room still bears his name in Hebrew on the wall lovingly decorated with bright paintings by his parents. One wall shows the blue markings which measured his height as he grew up.