By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS,
London: A year after terrorists killed six people in Nariman House, Jews around the world are marking the event – not in sorrow or anger, but to “keep the spirit of Mumbai alive”.
Across the world, Jews have been holding events to mark the passing of the first year since the attacks on Nariman House – one of 3,000 centres belonging to the Chabad-Lubavitch, described as an international Jewish educational and social welfare organisation.
Curry evenings, readings from religious texts, writing the Torah and pledges to “do good” have marked events held in provincial centres throughout Britain and elsewhere, including on the internet, where tens of thousands of pledges have been posted.
“Today, instead of lamenting, we are concentrating on adding to the good, so that we can keep the spirit of Mumbai alive,” said Rabbi Betzi Sudak of the main Chabad headquarters in Britain.
“Nariman House to Jews all over the world has become a symbol of all that is good. There is so much good coming out of that centre. The events of 26/11 became a symbol of the contrast between good and evil,” he told IANS Thursday.
Sudak has just returned from attending a memorial event in New York, where some 5,000 Jews, including 3,000 Rabbis, wrote a Torah, the Jewish holy book.
An organizer at the Chabad centre in Nottingham said Jews in that English city had held two ‘Indian dinners’ to mark the anniversary. Similar events are being held in Oxford and other places in Britain.
The biggest international event is planned for Nov 29, when Jews from around the world, led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Nobel peace prize winner and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, will mark the anniversary.
The global Mumbai Memorial Tribute has been titled ‘One year later, standing strong’.
“More people die from car accidents than from terrorist attacks, but terrorists want to make us doubt our humanity and doubt ourselves. What we have to do is remember the outpouring of faith and goodwill that we saw in Mumbai,” said Rabbi Sudak.
“If just 10 people can do so much evil, think of all the good the rest of us can do together.”
The terrorist attack on Nariman House claimed the lives of its directors, the young Israeli couple Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, and four others – Rabbis Bentzion Chroman and Leibish Teitelbaum, Nora Shwartzblatt-Rabinowitz and Yocheved Orpaz.
Gavriel, 29 and Rivkah, 28, had moved to Mumbai in 2003 and are survived by their son Moshe, who was rescued by his Indian Nanny Sandra Samuel and now lives with his grandparents in Israel.