Remember Baby Moshe? The two-year-old survived the 26/11 attack on Nariman House that killed his parents, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka.
On Sunday, when DNA visited the site, a pair of small shoes, belonging to the toddler, was found in a fourth-floor apartment of the six-storey building. The mattresses and pillows, used by the rabbi’s family, were wrapped in transparent plastic sheets, which did not hide the blood stains on them.
Reconstruction work began on Sunday at Nariman House, in which was located the Jewish chabad that was brutally attacked by two Pakistani terrorists on 26/11. Almost a year has gone by, but the wounds of the audacious attacks were still fresh. Every wall had the tale of terror written on it. Soon, the terrifying graffiti would be wiped out — the damaged walls would be replastered and painted. But DNA managed to freeze-frame the open wounds before they were dressed up.
The prime minister of Canada is scheduled to visit Nariman House on November 17 to pay his tribute. “The first anniversary isapproaching. We are going to repair and paint each and every wall to erase everything that brings back the memory of the terror attack. First, we will air and clean the building as it had been locked for almost a year. The way you find the things now, it had been exactly the same almost a year ago,” said member of the association that manages the chabad.
A first-floor room, which used to be the dining room, still looked as if the mayhem had taken place just a day before. The walls were riddled with bullets; at places, there were blood stains. On the ceilings and the floors were deep dents made by grenades.
On the fourth and the fifth floor, where the rabbi’s family used to live, bore many more testimonies to the tragedy. There were crumpled belongings of Moshe and his parents scattered on the floor. In the kitchen were several half-burnt candles. Perhaps, they were used by the terrorists after power supply to Nariman House was cut off during the rescue operation.
On the third floor was a prayer room. It used to have shelves full of religious books, which used to attract lots of visitors. Half of those have gone missing. The remaining have been sealed by security agencies.
The first floor of the building, where the three American passport-holding Israelis were killed, was in complete mess. Hundreds of cans of packed food were strewn on the floor. Perhaps, the Holtzberg’s had stored them as they used to serve food to many people everyday. “Every hungry Israeli who visited the rabbi was fed to his/her heart’s content,” said a volunteer of the association.
The lift of the building had been badly damaged — its doors blown away. It will have to be replaced. Water and electricity connections, which were severed after the attack, will be restored before November 26.
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