Canadian Prime Minister Tours Mumbai Chabad House

Touring the bullet-ridden shell of the Chabad House in Mumbai, India, one year after terrorists stormed the center and murdered six of its occupants, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper lit a candle Monday in memory of fallen Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, and the four Jewish guests who perished in the attack.

Walking alongside Rabbi Yosef Kantor, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Thailand; Rabbi Chaim Mendelsohn of the Canadian Federation of Chabad-Lubavitch; Rabbi Berel Gansbourg of Montreal, Harper described the visit as a show of solidarity and a chance to view first-hand the damage inflicted on the Mumbai center, as well as the resolve of Jewish leaders to continue its activities.

Canadian Minister of International Trade Stockwell Day, who had visited the damaged center once before, accompanied the prime minister on the tour.

“Of all the times that you could have chosen,” Kantor, who led the tour, told Harper, “that you chose now, one year after the attacks, to come and visit, strengthens our courage to move forward.”

Rabbi Berel Gansbourg, left, a close friend of fallen Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg; Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Rabbi Chaim Mendelsohn, director of Chabad of Centrepointe in Ottawa; and Rabbi Yosef Kantor, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Thailand, walk towards the Chabad House in Mumbai, India, one year after terrorists stormed the center, murdering its directors and four of their guests. (Photo: Jason Ransom/PMO/Canadian Federation of Chabad Lubavitch)

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper described his tour of the damaged Chabad House in Mumbai as a show of solidarity. (Photo: Jason Ransom/PMO/Canadian Federation of Chabad Lubavitch)

Rabbi Yosef Kantor led the tour, taking Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife Laureen to all of the damaged center’s rooms. (Photo: Jason Ransom/PMO/Canadian Federation of Chabad Lubavitch)

After the tour, the prime minister lit a candle in memory of fallen Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg and their four Jewish guests. (Photo: Jason Ransom/PMO/Canadian Federation of Chabad Lubavitch)