When a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Colombia Monday morning, members of Cali’s Sephardic Jewish community were in the middle of morning prayers.

“About 15 men were praying shaharit, the morning prayer service, at the time,” Ary Harf, president of the Hebraika synagogue, told The Times of Israel. “When the earthquake started, it was very scary, and they had to go outside to a little garden to finish services. The synagogue building sustained some damage during the tremor, so we’ve been praying outside since then.”

For Cali’s small Jewish community, rebuilding the synagogue is now a top priority — even as the community has been shrinking for decades. No deaths have been reported among Cali’s roughly 400 Jews, but about 10 families have had to leave their homes because of earthquake damage, Harf said.

Cali, a city of some 2.2 million people in southwestern Colombia with a long history of drug cartel violence, was among the hardest-hit cities in Monday’s earthquake, which killed at least 265 people and left more than 3,000 missing as of Thursday morning.

Members of the Jewish community have been working to support displaced families and others in need by providing food, water, clothing and other necessities, Harf said. The synagogue is also running an international fundraising campaign to help the community recover.

“We are a small community, but we are very united,” he said.

The synagogue’s kitchen — the community’s main source of kosher food — and other rooms were damaged, and part of the building’s exterior facade fell away, making the entire building unsafe for use, Harf said.

“But rebuilding efforts started today, so we should be able to come back, hopefully, in a couple of weeks.”

Colombia’s Jewish population is small, with an estimated 2,100 members,........

© The Times of Israel