President Joe Biden extended his thanks to a number of Chabad shluchim who met him during his visit to Florida, noting their efforts to support the support those affected by the tragedy in Surfside.
By Anash.org reporter
President Joe Biden extended his thanks to Rabbi Zalman Lipskar and a number of Chabad shluchim who met him during his visit to Florida, noting their efforts to support the support those affected by the tragedy in Surfside.
The president was visiting Florida to meet the families of the victims and survivors of the tragic collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo building. As of Thursday, 18 people were confirmed dead, and 145 people remain missing.
Biden met with government officials and first responders before spending close to three hours meeting with families impacted by the condo collapse.
During the meeting, he met with Rabbi Lipskar, who has been working tirelessly alongside his father, Rabbi Sholom Lipskar, to assist the families since the collapse. The president also met with shluchim Rabbi Yaakov Fellig of Coconut Grove, Rabbi Schneur Oirechman of Tallahassee, and Rabbi Yossi Harlig of Kendall.
In remarks to reporters Thursday afternoon, President Biden said family members of the Surfside victims are “realistic” about the odds of their loved ones’ survival, noting that “the chances are, as each day goes by, diminished slightly.”
The president noted that “there’s a lot of very religious people” among the victims of the collapse and that “rabbis in the Jewish community were talking about the need to make sure that they recover the body and be able to bury them.”
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