British Royal Tours Damaged Mumbai Chabad House
Prince Michael of Kent, a cousin of British monarch Queen Elizabeth II, toured the heavily damaged site of Chabad-Lubavitch of Mumbai, India, in a gesture of solidarity and in support of the rebuilding effort following the Nov. 26, 2008 terrorist attack there and at tourist centers throughout the city. At the end of his Wednesday afternoon visit, he presented Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz, director of the Chabad Mumbai Relief Fund, with a formal pledge of $100,000 on behalf of the DVK Foundation, a United Kingdom charity he serves as patron.
During a tour of the center’s six floors with Israeli Consul Gen. Orna Sagiv, the prince stopped to examine bullet holes and other damage left behind by gunmen when they took control of the Chabad House and murdered its directors, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, and four of their guests, said Berkowitz. He showed particular interest in a kitchen, marveling that in past years, its food fed thousands of visiting Jewish tourists, Israeli backpackers, and members of the local community, and that Rivka Holtzberg would bake bread there to hand out to local Indians living in poverty.
The prince expressed the wish that his pledge would help restore the kitchen, and the Chabad House, to its former glory.
Berkowitz said that the prince noticed a picture of the Holtzbergs beside a portrait of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, and inquired about the self-sacrifice that has led thousands of emissaries to strengthen Jewish life in locations across the globe.
“In the 60 years since the Rebbe assumed leadership of Chabad-Lubavitch,” Berkowitz told the royal, “Chabad Houses like this one have kept their doors open for everyone in need.”
“I am pleased to be a part of the good that is emerging from this terrible darkness,” said the prince, a grandson of the previous monarch, King George V. “Chabad is known globally for its spiritual and humanitarian work.”
Before leaving, the prince, a patron of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce and a qualified interpreter of Russian, remarked that his great-great-grandfather was Czar Alexander II of Russia at the time that the Rebbe’s ancestors were working tirelessly to strengthen Russian Jewry. Noting that things had come full circle, he told Berkowitz that he would convey the rabbi’s greetings to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at their next meeting.
dedi
the caption looks like it says that the tours damaged the chabad house
hi
I like the way the guy on the right in the last picture is holding up his hand…
agree with dedi
yeah i clicked to read how they damaged an already destroyed house!
publicity???
are they using the house for publicity tours? how many people have donated to the chabad of mumbai after the tragedy, except mumbai won’t allow new shluchim reside there for security purposes. so where is this money going? in the pockets of the rabbis giving the tours of the still wrecked home? terrible.. just terrible
Sarah Leah
BS“D The article is excellent, but the headline is a little ”fermisht“. At first glance, it looks like something called ”British Royal Tours“ caused damage to the Mumbai Chabad House. My first thought was that ”hadn’t they suffered enough?” To my (pleasant) surprise, the story was quite positive – but whoever is writing those headlines, please read them before sending it to press.
reply to #4
reply to comment #4
why is there always a stupid negative comment??
think before u write!!!
or simply dont write
Yankel
umm, there actually is a Shliach in Mumbai and you should know that they really do not have enough money keep in mind that much of the money donated went to Mosheleh, The upkeep of the Chabad house in its interim location and the building of a new Chabad in a safer location. To live in Mumbai as appose to other places in India is not so cheap. PLEASE DON’T JUDGE UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT THE SITUATION ACTUALLY IS!