Hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Jews gathered on Sunday near Tel Aviv to attend the funeral of influential Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, nicknamed the “Prince of Torah”, amid strong security measures to prevent stampedes.
A key figure in Judaism, and leader of the Jews of the Lithuanian community, Kanivesky died on Friday at the age of 94. His funeral was scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Bnei Brak, an Orthodox city adjacent to the metropolis of Tel Aviv, in the center of the country.
Thousands of faithful filled the streets and piled up on stairs and even rooftops to attend the burial, the AFP found.
“I cried when I found out I was dead,” said Shlomo Lugassi, a 41-year-old faithful who was trying to break through the crowd, without success, to gain access to the late rabbi's house.
“As Jews we know that what the (Jew) people hold is the Torah, and this man was the Torah, by his knowledge,” he added.
Israeli police estimated the influx at around 750,000 people and deployed 3,000 officers, as well as paramilitaries, to prevent tragedies such as the one that occurred in April 2021, when a stampede during a massive Jewish pilgrimage left 45 dead, including children, in northern Israel.
“The rabbi always made sure to welcome every person with an open heart,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement.
“He was a true public leader, who from his modest home in Bnei Brak (near Tel Aviv) led tens of thousands of people in Israel, with wisdom, common sense and rare skill,” he added.
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