Turkey Syria Earthquake

https://www.israel365news.com/366781/prominent-rabbi-compares-syrian-earthquake-victims-to-egyptians-killed-in-the-exodus-many-rabbis-disagree/?
Prominent rabbi compares Syrian earthquake victims to Egyptians killed in the Exodus. Many rabbis disagree
Hashem is beneficent in all His ways and faithful in all His works.
PSALMS145:17(THE ISRAEL BIBLE)
Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz
ADAM ELIYAHU BERKOWITZ
BIBLICAL NEWS, ISRAEL NEWS, WORLD NEWS
FEBRUARY 12, 2023
4 MIN READ
Home » Prominent rabbi compares Syrian earthquake victims to Egyptians killed in the Exodus. Many rabbis disagree
Chief Rabbi of Safed Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu was the focus of consternation on Friday when he wrote in the Hebrew-language Olam Katan that the devastating earthquakes that killed over 28,000 in Syria and Turkey were “divine justice”. While Rabbi Eliyahu is a highly respected Torah authority, many rabbis understood that Jewish law required Israel to step in and help, even when the recipient of kindness was a sworn enemy.

Rabbi Eliyahu began by comparing the recent catastrophe to the Biblical splitting of the sea that resulted in the deaths of the entire Egyptian army.

“There is no doubt that whoever would have seen the Egyptians drowning in the sea and would not have remembered the whole event from beginning to end, would have been filled with great pity for them and tried to save them from drowning,” Rabbi Eliyahu wrote. “But the Israelites sang because they knew the Egyptians and understood that those who drowned wanted to kill some of them and continue to enslave the rest.”

“They sang a song because they understood that it was divine justice intended to repay the Egyptians who drowned the children of the people of Israel in the Nile, that all the wicked in the world will see and be afraid.”

Rabbi Eliyahu compared Egypt to Syria which attacked Israel several times with the intention of wiping it out.

“This is about Syria — which abused its Jewish residents for hundreds of years in the blood libels of Damascus and others; which invaded Israel three times in order to kill and destroy,” he said.

He then cited a prophecy of Ezekiel that said that after the biblical promise of the ingathering of the exiles, when all Jews return to the land of Israel, “revenge will come to all the nations around us who have harmed us.”

Rabbi Eliyahu then referred to a Midrash relating that the angels began to sing when they saw the Egyptians die but God silenced them, saying, “My handiwork is sinking in the Sea, and you wish to sing?!”

The rabbi also related that the Talmud taught that an earthquake is an expression of God’s tears over the people of Israel who are still in exile and, therefore, a blessing is recited and the Song of the Sea is recited in synagogues, praising God for killing the Egyptians

“It is not that we are impervious to the sorrow of humanity,” Rabbi Eliyahu said. “Definitely not. But if God forbid, we don’t say thank you to God for watching over us, it is ingratitude. If we think the disaster is a happenstance, that is heartless. If we believe that we are more merciful than God, it is wickedness and stupidity.”

Rabbi Avraham Stav from the Tzohar organization responded to Rabbi Eliyahu by saying he was “troubled” by the rabbi’s interpretation of events.

“The thought that the entire world is in tears amid the terrible sights and stories in Turkey, and we, the people who brought to the world the tidings that every person is created in [God’s] image, should according to Rabbi Eliyahu rejoice over these horrors,” Rabbi Stav wrote.

Rabbi Yehuda Gilad wrote that he had read Eliyahu’s comments “again and again and can’t believe it. Thousands of people made in God’s image are buried beneath the ruins of their homes, elderly and infants expiring in terrible agony and we should view this as being to our benefit?”

Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger co-founded Roots/Shorashim/Judur, a joint Palestinian-Israeli grassroots peacemaking initiative dedicated to understanding nonviolence. Rabbi Schlesinger believed that there was room to interpret Jewish law differently than Rabbi Eliyahu.

“From my perspective, fundamental moral concerns are not extraneous to Jewish law,” Rabbi Schlesinger said. “They are the foundation of Halacha (Jewish law). Even if there is no relevant reference to the situation in the Jewish legal texts, if there is an explicit moral concern, it should be considered as Halacha.”

Rabbi Schlesinger suggested that people emulate God’s attributes as described in Psalms:

Hashem is beneficent in all His ways and faithful in all His works. Psalms 145:17

“This is a meta-halachic principle,” Rabbi Schlesinger explained. “The Rambam gives guidelines for giving charity by teaching that you are required to prioritize the poor people of your city but that does not exclude the poor who come from far away or to non-Jews.”

“This is, of course, based on the belief that all men were created in the image of God,” he pointed out.

Rabbi Schlesinger’s organization reaches out to Palestinians, a demographic some Israelis might consider to be an enemy. He applied this to the earthquake victims.

“I don’t know if you can classify Turkey or even Syria as ‘the enemy’,” the rabbi said. “Right now, they are victims of a terrible tragedy. I wouldn’t define a person trapped under a collapsed building as an enemy.”

Israel sent over 400 relief workers to help in the rescue efforts in Turkey and offered humanitarian aid to Syria. Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said in an unsourced report that Russia had relayed the request for Israel to assist Syria. In addition, many of the people arriving at the Israeli aid stations in Turkey were, in fact, refugees from Syria.

This would not be the first time that Israeli assistance saved lives in Syria. Israeli hospitals treated thousands of sick and wounded Syrians. From 2013-2017, about 2,800 injured Syrians entered Israel to receive medical care. As part of Operation Good Neighbor, Israel also trucked supplies across the border. This reflects the IDF Code of Ethics requires soldiers and medical personnel to treat enemy troops and civilians.

In comparison, the UN Security Council delayed sending aid to northwestern Syria due to the rebel strongholds in that region. At least 2,100 people were killed in the earthquake in that region.

An unnamed Israeli military official told Elaph news site on Thursday that “there is information indicating that Iran will take advantage of the tragic situation in Syria” to deliver weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon and other Iran-backed terrorist groups in Syria. The unnamed official said that Israel would not accept this and such actions would result in a “firm military response from us without hesitation.”

Several Iranian cargo planes have landed in Syria since the earthquake hit last Monday, ostensibly carrying humanitarian aid.

CUFI
https://www.cufi.org.uk/news/how-israel-is-leading-the-world-in-turkey-rescue-efforts/
How Israel is leading the world in Turkey rescue efforts
Feb 10, 2023 | News

How Israel is leading the world in Turkey rescue efforts
Israel has sent 450 rescue workers to Turkey, the world’s second largest delegation just behind Turkey’s close ally Azerbaijan, in a special operation named ‘Olive Branches’. As of Friday, Israeli teams rescued 18 people people from the rubble.

In the southeastern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, Israeli medical staff are providing care at an abandoned hospital restored by the Israeli military. Around 140 Israeli doctors and nurses, as well as other medical experts, are using specialist equipment sent from Israel in addition to the existing facilities left behind when the earthquake struck.

Meanwhile, in addition to the 450 aid workers, the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate, part of Unit 9900, is using sate-of-the-art satellite intelligence to help search and rescue teams in the field to pinpoint locations of the destruction sites from decoded satellite images.

Israel was one of the first nations to arrive in Turkey since Monday’s devastating earthquake, drawing the attention of international media, including this bulletin on Sky News.



On Friday, 100 hours after the quake, Israeli military search and rescue teams pulled a 10-year-old boy out of a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, bringing the total number of Turkish civilians rescued by Israel to 18.

“The rescue teams provided the boy with lifesaving medical treatment during the rescue and afterward transferred him to a hospital for further medical treatment,” the IDF said.


On Thursday, Israeli teams saved a 7-year-old girl from a collapsed building in the same city. The girl’s uncle gifted one of the Israeli rescuers an old coin as a token of gratitude.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel also plans to send aid to Syria, including tents, medication, and blankets despite the country considering Israel enemy and the two nations not having diplomatic ties. But Syrian sources vigorously denied requesting aid from Israel


David Saranga, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official, said Friday morning that a ” large-scale aid shipment” would be delivered to Turkey in the near future, including tens of thousands of blankets, sleeping bags, coats, and winter equipment.

“Israel will also send large water purification systems that provide drinking water to thousands of people a day,” Saranga added.

srael Nitzan
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🧵Update on #Israel Operation “Olive Branches” in #Turkey

A 450-member humanitarian delegation from is currently on the ground. @IsraelMFA @IDF @IsraelMOH @MoDIsrael

@IDF search & rescue teams have rescued 17 people from the ruins so far.

#TurkeyEarthquake

https://www.israel365news.com/366636/earthquakes-shake-israel-three-times-in-24-hours-the-talmud-may-know-why/?

Earthquakes shake Israel three times in 24-hours – The Talmud may know why
Mountains shall be overthrown, cliffs shall topple, and every wall shall crumble to the ground.
EZEKIEL38:20
(THE ISRAEL BIBLE)

Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz
ADAM ELIYAHU BERKOWITZ
BIBLICAL NEWS, ISRAEL NEWS
FEBRUARY 9, 2023
3 MIN READ
Home » Earthquakes shake Israel three times in 24-hours – The Talmud may know why


EARTHQUAKES ISRAEL JERUSALEM
The Geological Survey of Israel’s Seismology and Earthquakes division confirmed that at 4:58 PM on Wednesday afternoon, a 3.3 magnitude earthquake shook Israel. The epicenter was located some 20 kilometers southeast of the city of Ariel in Samaria.

Less than five hours later, a 4.1 magnitude earthquake hit near the border between Syria and Turkey some 130 kilometers north of the border with Israel. The effects of that tremor were also felt in Israel.

A 3.5-magnitude tremor occurred at 11:14 PM local time on Tuesday night and was centered around 24 miles north of Jerusalem.

Also on Tuesday night, an earthquake of magnitude 4.8, followed by another of magnitude 3.2, occurred in central Turkey and were felt in Israel.

The Home Front Command said the earthquake warning system dubbed Teruah was not activated because the tremors did not pose a danger to residents. No injuries were reported.

On Monday, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the Turkey-Syria border region on Monday killing more than 12,000 people with some 31,000 people injured. Israel has sent rescue teams to Turkey and offered humanitarian aid to Syria.

Israel’s Jordan Valley and Dead Sea are part of the Syrian-African Rift Valley, which stretches from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley to Mozambique in Southeastern Africa. Large earthquakes usually hit Israel approximately once every 90 years and there is concern that another one is due – considering that the most recent one occurred in 1927. That event saw more than 400 people killed and extensive damage to buildings in Jerusalem and Hebron.

According to data presented by Kan News, about 60% of the homes in Israel are still not protected from missile attacks, earthquakes, or collapse due to obsolescence. More than half of Israeli citizens live in a building not properly protected against such events.

For this reason, a major earthquake is predicted to cause up to 7,000 deaths and 145,000 injuries, with 170,000 people left homeless and 320,000 buildings damaged.

TALMUD: EARTHQUAKES ARE GOD CRYING FOR THE EXILE OF THE JEWS
The Talmud in Tractate Berachot (59A) teaches that when a person witnesses an earthquake, he should make the blessing “Blessed be He whose strength and power fill the world.”

This is followed by a story about Rav Ketina walking past the house of a necromancer when an earthquake occurred. The necromancer told Rav Ketina that earthquakes were the result of God’s tears hitting the ocean when he was sad over the exile of the Jews. Rav Ketina disagreed with this explanation, reasoning that if that were the case, there would be a long series of earthquakes in quick succession. Rav Ketina claimed that earthquakes were God clapping his hands, as described based in a verse in Ezekiel:

I, too, will strike hand against hand and will satisfy My fury upon you; I Hashem have spoken. Ezekiel 21:22

The Talmud admits that the necromancer was, in fact, correct and that when an earthquake strikes, it is a series of quakes. But Rav Ketina did not want people to believe that necromancy was an acceptable form of divination.

Commentaries on this section of the Talmud emphasize that natural phenomena and catastrophes are associated with the actions of Man and most especially with the fate of the Jews in Israel.

TOO MANY THEATERS AND CIRCUSES

The Talmud Yerushalmi discussed the causes of earthquakes as benign due to not giving tithes. It then suggests that the cause is “theaters and circuses existing in safety and quiet” while the holy Temple in Jerusalem stands in ruin. The commentaries explain that the theaters and circuses were Roman and featured violence and lewd displays. The Temple, of course, was precisely the opposite. Another possible cause of earthquakes discussed in this section of the Talmud Yerushalmi is quarreling among Jews and lewd behavior. The Talmud then suggests that earthquakes presage a change in government, noting that the Prophet Jeremiah (51:29) wrote that an earthquake struck before the fall of the Babylonian king.

CHRISTIAN NEWS NETWORK Faithw19


PRAY: ‘Miracle Baby’ Discovered in Syrian Rubble With Umbilical Cord Still Attached After Deadly 7.8 Earthquake

A rescuer carries a baby girl after pulling her from the rubble caused by an earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey in the town of Jinderis, Syria, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Residents in the northwest Syrian town discovered the crying infant whose mother gave birth to her while buried underneath the rubble of a five-story apartment building levelled by this week's devastating earthquake, relatives and a doctor say. (Via AP)
SHARE https://www.faithwire.com/2023/02/08/pray-miracle-baby-discovered-in-syrian-rubble-with-umbilical-cord-still-attached-after-deadly-7-8-earthquake/?

16 hours ago
Israel Aid Workers in EPICENTER of Turkey Earthquake; Israel Offers SYRIA Aid | Watchman Newscast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMXCdY7Th2g
The Watchman with Erick Stakelbeck

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44,946 views  7 Feb 2023  #Israel #Turkey #Syria
On today’s Watchman Newscast, host Erick Stakelbeck highlights Israel’s relief efforts inside Turkey in the wake of the horrific 7.8 magnitude earthquake that has caused widespread disaster in that country. Israeli aid workers are already on the ground in the epicenter of the quake zone—and the Jewish State has even offered to aid Syria, an enemy nation with which it has no diplomatic relations. Learn how Israel is acting as a light unto the nations: and how this is far from the first time. Watch now!
#Israel #Turkey #Syria #Earthquakes #TheWatchman

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0:00 Introduction.
0:29 The latest on the ongoing recovery after the Turkey/Syria earthquakes.
2:02 Israel sending aid to Turkey and Syria as well.
5:49 This isn't the first time Israel aided Syrians - Operation Good Neigbor revisited.
11:51 Closing thoughts.
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