Photo Credit: Aviva Klompas / Twitter
Antakya Jewish Community President Shaul Cenudioglu (Janudi) and his wife Fortuna. Their bodies were found by IDF and ZAKA rescuers in the rubble of a building destroyed by deadly earthquakes that devastated southeastern Turkey on February 6, 2023.

The bodies of Shaul and Fortuna Cenudioglu (Janudi), leaders of the Jewish community in Antakya (Antioch), were located by IDF and ZAKA rescuers Thursday morning, closing a painful chapter in the aftermath of Monday’s deadly earthquakes that devastated Turkey and Syria.

Advertisement




The couple was unaccounted for after the earthquakes that devastated 10 provinces in southeastern Turkey and in at least five governorates in Syria.

Head of Local Jewish Community and Wife Feared Dead in Turkey Earthquake

Antakya, also known as Antioch, is the capital of Hatay province and was home to a 2,300-year-old Jewish community that once was thriving but by Monday, when the earthquake struck, had just 14 members remaining.

Rabbi Mendy Chitrik in Turkey: ‘We’re Hoping for Miracles’

The Torah scrolls that belong to the ancient Jewish community were all recovered in a rescue operation organized by the Turkish Jewish community and headed by the Chief Rabbi of Turkey and President of the Jewish community, according to Istanbul’s Chabad emissary and chair of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States Rabbi Mendy Chitrik.

As of Thursday morning, the death toll in the wake of the earthquakes had reached 16,000 in Turkey and Syria, with more than 70,000 people injured, and millions more left homeless.


Share this article on WhatsApp:
Advertisement

SHARE
Previous articleTo Thank Before We Think
Next articleShas Bill: 6 Months in Jail for ‘Improper Behavior’ at the Kotel
Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.