‘We’ll make it better, stronger than before’

Nariman House still looks like a war zone.

The lift has been blown out and as you walk up the stairs of the five-storey building, the walls show gaping holes. Glass has been shot out everywhere, the walls pockmarked by thousands of bullets, the floors covered in ash. No restoration work has started yet.

"The Jewish mourning period is 12 months," says Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz, director of the Chabad Mumbai Relief Fund. "For us the whole year is a year of dedication to the life's work of Rabbi Gabi and Rivka Holzberg."

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Berkowitz was in Mumbai last week with Rabbi Nachman Holtzberg, father of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was murdered inside Nariman House, and Rabbi Yosef Kantor, director of Chabad South Asia. Chabad House, the Jewish outreach centre that had operated from inside the building, continues to do its work in Mumbai, from a different location.

They initially used a local hotel but now run their services from a city apartment.

An international committee of 10 rabbis from across the world were deciding what to do with Nariman House, Berkowitz said. "We don't know yet what the future of this specific house will be but we do know we will build Chabad House stronger and better than before." Rabbi Kantor,who is based in Bangkok, is interviewing candidates.

He says: "Chabad is a concept, it is not tied to any particular location, in India things take their time and the monsoon is about to start."

He adds they are yet to receive structural engineering reports and the total costs of repairs were unknown. "As we rebuild, we go forward with the goodwill of people of all faiths."

"I would like it if it reopened as Chabad House as I don't like it being empty," says Babu Gaiakadar, who runs a TV repair shop opposite.