Israeli Chief Rabbi issues Shabbat dispensation for earthquake search and rescue

An Israeli Chief Rabbi has given dispensation for search and rescue operations in Turkey to continue over Shabbat.

Following the catastrophic earthquake and powerful aftershocks in the country on Monday, Rabbi David Lau issued a special ruling in Jewish Las (halacha) permitting the work of the IDF home front command and United Hatzalah rescue teams to continue their work unabated if lives could be saved.

Thursday’s ruling made special mention of the work being done by both crews in order to save the lives of those affected by the earthquake that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.

In spite of the cold temperatures and people having been trapped under the rubble for four days, the Israeli delegation has managed to find and extricate from the rubble 17 survivors so far, whose lives have been saved by the rescue efforts and medical intervention that has been provided.

President and founder of United Hatzalah Eli Beer said: “The goal of our mission to Turkey is to help people, plain and simple. We didn’t go because they are Jewish, we went because we are Jewish. This is what being Jewish means, it means finding ways to help people in accordance with Jewish Law. One of the highest values in Jewish law is the sanctity of life.

“The Talmud tells us that saving one life is like saving an entire world. Our teams have helped save 17 worlds. We hope we will still save some more.”

The estimated death toll in Turkey and neighbouring Syria has now surpassed 20,000.