By Phil Hazlewood
Mumbai - The storming of a Jewish cultural and religious centre in Mumbai by Islamist gunmen one year ago left six people dead and a deep scar in the psyche of the Jewish outreach movement that ran the site.
Among the victims were Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his pregnant wife, Rivki, 28, who had come to India's financial capital from New York five years earlier to establish an open house for visiting Jews and the local community.
"Their holy space was violated in the most brutal, evil fashion," said Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz, director of a relief fund set up after the attacks by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement to which the Holtzbergs belonged.
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"Nariman House, Chabad House has become the symbol for the entire world of the stark contrast between good and evil in the world," Berkowitz told AFP in an interview.
The five-storey apartment complex of Chabad House, tucked away down a narrow lane in the bustling Colaba Market area of south Mumbai, served as an education centre, synagogue and hostel.
It was one of a number of high-profile targets selected by 10 heavily-armed extremists who stunned the city with a multi-pronged attack on November 26, 2008 that killed 166 people and injured more than 300.
The Holtzbergs' son Moshe, now aged three, escaped the carnage. He was plucked to safety by his Indian nanny, Sandra Samuels. Both now live in Israel with the toddler's grandparents.
Local faith leaders last week joined members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish organisation at the bullet-scarred centre to light candles in remembrance of the "six holy souls" who lost their lives.
Another memorial service is planned on the first anniversary of the attacks, with the Holtzbergs' parents, Israel's ambassador to India and top Chabad leaders scheduled to attend, Berkowitz said.
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