Scarred & Scared

Till Wednesday night, most Mumbaikars were not aware of Nariman House. As a gun-battle continued there for over 50 hours, the Jewish community centre, known as Chabad House, connected to Colaba causeway, was on the top of the entire nation’s mind. With this were also raised questions regarding the community’s safety.

But the city’s tiny Jewish community—there are around 5,000 of them—seems to be uncomfortable with such public and media attention. Security is their prime concern and that stops them from talking to the media.

When contacted on Monday, a number of prominent Jews of the city refused to speak on the hostage drama which left at least six Jews—including Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, both directors of the community centre—dead.

A popular Jewish restaurateur from South Mumbai refused in no uncertain terms to comment on the Terror attack, another hotelier from the suburbs said that he did not see a reason why he should be talking at all about his community. He was quick to add that he feared for his security.

Michael Rubenstein, a Jewish photojournalist based in Mumbai, has posted photographs of the attack with a voiceover on the New York Times website. Rubenstein said in his blog the recent attacks reminds him a lot of what was said after 9/11, after the London train bombings, after the PanAm disaster, after the Gujarat massacres —after any one group of people decides that another group of people should die for believing something differently. He even adds “I’m sorry Bombay, this shouldn’t have happened to you.”

However, when approached by us, he refused to talk. “I’d really rather not be the subject of an interview. The NYT piece was my job but I don’t want to be a subject. I’m sorry.” Jews are a small community-almost a religious minority—in Mumbai as well as India. They, however, haven’t ever faced anti-Semitism in this country.

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