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.
The worst has been confirmed.
IDF and ZAKA rescue teams discovered the bodies of Shaul and Fortuna Janudi, leaders of the Antakya #Turkey Jewish community, dead under the rubble.
May their memories be a blessing ?️?️ pic.twitter.com/RGtwrzeOoa
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) February 9, 2023
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.
