Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel have gathered to attend a rabbi’s funeral. Thousands of people tried to reach the cemetery at the funeral in Bnei Brak, a Tel Aviv suburb home to many ultra-Orthodox people. Dozens of people were injured in the crowd, a three-year-old boy is also missing, write Israeli media. The situation is now under control, police said.
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky (94) passed away on Friday. He was one of the most influential leaders of the religious community. The cleric was born in Belarus, but moved as a child to Palestine, which was then ruled by the British.
Funerals of rabbis often attract many believers. “The followers want to be present en masse during the funeral“, says NOS correspondent Israel and Palestinian territories Ties Brock.
Many roads blocked
People come from all over the country to say goodbye, blocking many roads. “It is striking that the entire country is flat. The entire center of Israel, because it is close to Tel Aviv, is closed,” says Brock.
Israel has 9.4 million inhabitants, about 12 percent of whom belong to the ultra-Orthodox community.
The rabbi became known at the start of the corona pandemic, when he called on his followers to continue with religious gatherings. Stopping this was in his eyes more harmful than the consequences of the corona virus. He later recovered from that, when the virus quickly spread in densely populated Bnei Brak.
Images of the crowd are circulating on Twitter:
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