A member of the Mexican Jewish community has been confirmed dead by the ZAKA following the 7.1 magnitude earthquake which killed hundreds last week.
The Israeli emergency organization announced that it had recovered the body of Rabbi Haim Ashkenazi, rabbi of the Kehillat Magen David synagogue, from the rubble of an office building in Mexico city. Most of Mexico’s nearly 50,000 Jews live in the capital.
“Immediately after Shabbat went out in Mexico (early morning Israel time), we received an update from our team in Mexico that they had recovered the body of the missing Jewish man. The ZAKA team, which was on the scene at the time the earthquake struck, will remain until we receive an update that there are no more missing people,” said ZAKA International Rescue Unit Chief Officer Mati Goldstein.
Prior to the holiday the organization, which is working alongside missions from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Jewish Agency and other organizations, stated that engineers had been "dispatched to local synagogues to ensure that Rosh Hashanah services can safely take place.”
A representative of World Bnei Akiva told Arutz Sheva that one of the local synagogues had been “severely damaged” in the quake and that "the Jewish community is beginning to collect food and supplies for those in need.”
According to reports, another Jew aside from Ashkenazi is also currently missing.
“It is impossible to describe the scope of the disaster. Millions of people are without power, there is great confusion and distress,” said ZAKA Mexico commander Marcus Cain. "We are currently searching for a missing Jewish resident and helping the local rescue forces evacuate the bodies and locate and rescue survivors in the disaster area.”
The Israeli Defense Forces’ 70-man delegation composed primarily of structural engineers.
Speaking with Col. (res.) Dudi Mizrahi, the group’s leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that their work was a “mitzvah” and that they were "shining Israel’s light in the world, a big light. This is important for humanitarian purposes and also to show the real Israel. You are bringing a great deal of pride to Israel."
