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Jewish Heritage Mostly Survived the Destruction During the Earthquakes
While the Antakya and Kilis synagogues were slightly damaged during the Kahramanmaraş centered earthquakes that affected 10 cities in Turkey, the Gaziantep Synagogue was not damaged. March 3, 2023
The destructive earthquakes that happened in Turkey beginning of February destroyed the cities. While more than 44 thousand people died during the earthquakes, more than 1.5 million people lost their homes.
Among those who lost their lives were also the Antakya Jewish Community President Şaul Cenudioğlu and his wife Tuna Cenudioğlu. As for the earthquake survivors from the Turkish Jewish Community, they were transferred safely to Istanbul.
The Rabbi of the Turkish Ashkenazi Community Rabbi Mendy Chitrik visited the region shortly after the earthquake on February 6th. In the speech to Jewish Heritage Europe (JHE), Rabbi Chitrik stated that the synagogues in Antakya and Kilis were slightly damaged, though the restored synagogue in Gaziantep was in good shape.
Antakya Synagogue
The 2500 years old Torah scrolls were rescued right after the earthquake and brought to safety in Istanbul.
The Gaziantep Synagogue, which had hosted mainly the community consisting of Jews coming from the Arab countries during the Ottoman period, was not being used for a long time as no Jews were left in the city since the 1980s. The synagogue had opened its doors once again on December 26th, 2019, following the renovation executed by the Directorate General of Foundations of Turkey.
Gaziantep Synagogue
The Kilis Synagogue had been closed for 63 years after the Jews in the region migrated to Israel and the United States in 1958. However, in 2019 the synagogue was renovated like the Gaziantep Synagogue by the Directorate General of Foundations.
Hanukkah celebration at the Kilis Synagogue after the renovation (2021)
Rabbi Chitrik showed the damages at the synagogues in the video clips he shared on his Twitter account and expressed that repairs were needed:
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