Seeking to play down charges being traded in a Mumbai court regarding who controls the Chabad of India Trust that owns the Nariman House building,the father of the rabbi killed there during the 26/11 attack said the primary disagreement between the murdered couples families and others in the Chabad movement is over the function of the property once renovated. While some want it rebuilt primarily as a memorial to the victims of the attack,the families of Gavriel and Rivka want it to be a functional,alive and vital place that operates as the Chabad House of Mumbai, Rabbi Nachman Holtzberg said Wednesday,speaking through a translator in Mumbai. In the city to attend a court hearing Thursday and for a memorial service to those killed in Nariman House,Rabbi Nachman Holtzberg said he and those with a different vision have been unable to move past this understanding. Our children have given their lives for a place that was a space where those who wanted food or shelter could come,where Gaby and Rivka taught Hebrew and the Torah,where Indian Jews could get deeper learning on spirituality, he said. He as well as Rivkas parents,the Rosenbergs,are aware that two years on,the structure only reminds people of gloom,evil and violence, not the light our children gave the rest of the world. Reopening the structure to once again function as the Mumbai Chabad House would also be a fitting answer to perpetrators of terror,he said. Chabad services in Mumbai are currently operating from a location undisclosed due to security concerns. The Holtzbergs said they receive emails from across the world daily asking when Nariman House would be operational once again as Mumbais Chabad House. The dispute became public when,in October,a rabbi representing the Chabad headquarters in New York filed a civil petition against the constituted attorney of Nachman Holtzberg stating that repairs to the building were being conducted by unauthorised persons. In their response,the Holtzbergs,through their constituted attorney,accused a group of Chabad delegates of pocketing millions raised as donations to restore Nariman House and challenged the legality of a post-26/11 reconstitution of the Chabad of India Trust that owns the building. Terming the outing of the dispute very painful,the senior Holtzberg maintained he and the Rosenbergs are funding the current repairs to the building.
