(20 Mar 2022) Hundreds of thousands of people descended upon a city near Tel Aviv on Sunday for the funeral of a prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbi.
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky was one of the most influential scholars in the religious community in Israel.
Aerial footage of the funeral showed enormous throngs of mourners dressed in the signature black suits and hats typical of ultra-Orthodox men filling Bnei Brak's narrow streets for blocks around the rabbi's house.
He died Friday at the age of 94.
He was one of the few remaining leaders of the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel born before the Holocaust.
Kanievsky is to be buried in Bnei Brak, the predominantly ultra-Orthodox city east of Tel Aviv where he lived.
Police said several highways in Israel's densely populated Tel Aviv area would be closed to traffic for several hours, and that other main thoroughfares were expected to be gridlocked.
The Communications Ministry said it was expecting cellular network outages in around the funeral due to high volume, and advised people to only make essential calls.
The insular ultra-Orthodox community makes up about 12% of Israel's 9.4 million people.
They adhere to a stringent interpretation of Judaism, with a focus on Torah study and observance of tradition.
Prominent rabbis like Kanievsky play a significant role in community life and act as arbiters in all matters.
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