Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Monday, February 6, 2023

Istanbul rabbi says no fatalities reported among Jewish communities in quake zone

By Judah Ari Gross 6 February 2023, 2:04 pm 0 Edit

Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.

Rescue workers and medical teams try to reach trapped residents in a collapsed building following and earthquake in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, early Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Mahmut Bozarsan)

An Istanbul-based rabbi says he has been in contact with the Jewish communities in the areas of Turkey hit by two powerful earthquakes and “they are all fine — praise God.”

Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, the head of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, says that while the Jewish community members all seem to be safe, he is not yet sure if there was any damage to their synagogues.

Chitrik, a Chabad rabbi who leads the country’s Ashkenazi Jewish community, says he is heading to southern Turkey now.

It took several hours for Chitrik to get in touch with the Jewish communities in the Turkish cities of Adıyaman, Malatya, Antakya, Gaziantep, and Kilis, following the devastating tremors that have claimed the lives of over 1,300 people across Turkey and Syria.

Please keep on praying for our friends and colleagues whom we are unable to contact in Adıyaman, Malatya, Antakya, Gaziantep, and Kilis????????????

— Rabbi Mendy Chitrik (@mchitrik) February 6, 2023