Rajasthan: Israeli 'Bed Chabad' Reopens After 4 Months In Pushkar

Ahead of the Jewish New Year on October 2, Bed Chabad community centre was reopened in Pushkar today. A large number of Israeli tourists are expected to flock here to take part in the celebrations.

Pushkar (Ajmer):The Bed Chabad community centre of Jews in Rajasthan's Pushkar, which was closed for four months, has been reopened on Monday along with deployment of several armed police personnel.

Israeli religious leader Shimsho Godstein is set to arrive here with his family. Following the centre's reopening, there will be an influx of Israeli tourists here.

Bed Chabad manager, Hanuman Prasad Bakolia, said that the centre is closed for four months every year as Israeli tourists stop coming here in summer. The centre was closed on May 2 and the Israeli religious leader had returned to his hometown along with his family. Bakolia said that no one except Israeli nationals are allowed to enter Bed Chand, where religious rituals are performed.

Jewish New Year to be celebrated:Baholia further said that on October 2, Israel's biggest festival Rosh Hashnath, which marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year, will be celebrated with great pomp and a large number of Israeli tourists are expected to come here. Preparations have also begun for the occasion and arrangements are underway for holding mass religious worship, cultural programmes, mass feasts and others.

Security agencies on alert:Bed Chabadm a religious place for the Israelis, is considered to be very sensitive from the security point of view. In view of the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel, the security agencies are already on alert here.

Notably, the Israelis and their religious places have always been the target of Muslim fundamentalist organisations. During the Mumbai blast too, the Israeli hideout was targeted. Also, Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist David Coleman Headley, in his interrogation, revealed that he had stayed in Pushkar for a long time before Mumbai serial blast.

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