Sea of ultra-Orthodox in Israel for rabbi funeral under heavy guard

An estimated three quarters of a million ultra-Orthodox Jews packed the Israeli city of Bnei Brak for the funeral Sunday of influential rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, known to followers as the "Prince of Torah".

Authorities had voiced fears of disaster from massive overcrowding as a sea of men and boys in black suits filled streets, sidewalks and balconies in the city near Tel Aviv to mourn the Belarusian-born Kanievsky, who died Friday aged 94.

A separate women's section had been created ahead of the event that the Magen David Adom rescue agency estimated would be one of the biggest gatherings in "Israel history".

After Kanievsky was buried at a Bnei Brak cemetery, the MDA said the funeral procession had been completed with "no serious incidents".

Police put the crowd at 750,000-strong, roughly eight percent of the Israeli population.

It included Shlomo Lugassi, who said he had earlier unsuccessfully tried to push his way through the masses to reach the late rabbi's apartment.

"I cried when I heard he was dead," the 41-year-old told AFP ahead of the burial.

Thousands of police and paramilitary officers as well as volunteers were deployed to provide security for the funeral held 11 months after a disaster at Mount Meron, an ultra-Orthodox pilgrimage site where 45 people died in a stampede.

"The trauma of the Meron disaster is still fresh for all of us," Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had warned before his weekly cabinet on Sunday.

He described Kanievsky's death as "a great loss to the Jewish people".

- 'Our master, the Prince of Torah' -

Kanievsky was the de facto head of what is commonly called the Lithuanian branch of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, and his knowledge of Jewish law was so revered that his rulings were thought to require total compliance within his community.

To some followers, he was known as "our master, the Prince of Torah", comprising the religion's laws and traditions.

Benjamin Brown, a professor of Jewish thought at Hebrew University, told AFP that Kanievsky "came to be a figure of authority almost against his own will".

"He wanted to keep learning and studying Torah (quietly)" but accepted a leadership role to help heal rifts within the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community, Brown said.

Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jews, or haredim, are split among various factions and groups, but Kanievsky was seen by some as a unifying figure.

Aryeh Deri, a political leader and rabbi from the Sephardic haredi group -- which has its roots in southern Europe and North Africa -- told Israel's Channel 11 that Kanievsky transcended "definition".

Despite his prominence, Kanievsky lived in a modest Bnei Brak apartment, where religious texts lined the walls of a small study.

His notoriety within Israel and abroad surged in 2020 when he was accused of encouraging followers to ignore social distancing restrictions and continue gathering to study Torah.

Widespread resistance among some haredim to respect restrictions, including orders to close schools and houses of worship, fostered resentment among mainstream Israelis.

Yaakov Kanievsky, the rabbi's grandson and top advisor, told AFP at the time that the rabbi had not been not seeking to appear "defiant" in response to Covid lockdown rules.

But he stressed that for a prominent haredi rabbi like Kanievsky, limiting viral transmission could not be not be the main consideration.

"For the rabbi, the most important thing in the world is the study of Torah. Without that, there is no point to anything," Yaakov Kanievsky told AFP in November 2020.

"The rabbi believes that the Jewish people have no existence without Torah. You can't separate the two, you must study."

Brown also noted that Kanievsky's strong public support for Covid vaccinations was crucial to ensuring haredim accepted the jab.