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Mumbai: “Israel will continue to assert its right to self-defence. On October 7, the country was targeted by the terrorist group, Hamas, and more recently Hezbollah. We are fighting a war against terrorism so that the world is a better place to live in. We will not rest till terrorism is wiped out,” Israel foreign ministry director-general Yaakov Blitshtein asserted on Tuesday.
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The Director General of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Mr. Yaakov Blitshtein visited at Nariman House during his visit in Mumbai | Vijay Gohil
The senior official was in the city on a day's visit. He visited Chabad House in Colaba which was attacked by Pakistani terrorists in November 2008. Blitshtein laid a wreath at a memorial built inside the building. In a brief speech, he recalled the 26/11 horror and appealed for a war against terrorism.
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The Director General of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Mr. Yaakov Blitshtein visited at Nariman House during his visit in Mumbai | Vijay Gohil
In the afternoon, he took part in a function during which the 181-year-old Shaare Rason synagogue near Masjid, one of the two synagogues in the area that gave the local railway its name, was added to the 'Jewish Route', an itinerary of 24 Jewish heritage sites in Mumbai.
Blitshtein and Kobbi Shoshani, Israeli Consul General in Mumbai, inaugurated a plaque at the shrine, which enlists synagogues, cemeteries, and other Jewish cultural and religious sites.
Yaakov Blitshtein, Director General of Foreign Affairs of Israel at Shaare Rason Synagogue | SALMAN ANSARI
The synagogue was built in 1843 by members of the Marathi-speaking Bene Israel community. The congregation that built the synagogue was formed in 1839 by Samuel Jacob Divekar, Haeem Isaji (Isaac) Garsulkar and other local Jews. The synagogue was consecrated on June 4, 1843.
Shaare Rason, Hebrew for Gate of Will, was the second Bene Israel synagogue to be built in Mumbai. It is at walking distance from the first Bene Israel synagogue, Sha'ar Harahamim or Gate of Mercy, at Samuel Street. Earlier, the locals thought the buildings were mosques. So the area came to be known as Masjid, lending its name to the station as well.
Yaakov Blitshtein, Director General of Foreign Affairs of Israel at Shaare Rason Synagogue | SALMAN ANSARI
Built behind a thick wall, Shaare Rason is constructed with wood and brick in an architectural style that comforted worshippers in Mumbai's hot and rainy weather. There is a women's seating gallery on the mezzanine floor. The rectangular sanctuary holds the centrally-placed tebah or reader’s platform, from where Torah is read. On the back wall is the heckal or ark, an elaborately carved teak wood cabinet for storing the Torah scrolls. The heckal is draped in a traditional cloth called 'parochet'.
The synagogue was in shambles by the beginning of the 21st century, said Solomon Sopher, president of the Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue in Kala Ghoda. “It is a small locality called Israeli Mohalla and there were no prayers daily. It needed restoration,” said Sopher. The synagogue was restored in 2015 with donations from the local community and a worldwide diaspora.
Sinora Kolatkar, Shaare Rason secretary and member of the family that takes care of the its upkeep, said that she now lives in Borivali, but had worshipped there as a child. “My father used to pray here,” she said. There are no daily or weekly religious services because very few Jews now live nearby. There is a monthly service on the fourth Saturday every month when 20-25 people gather to pray.
