Thousands attend funeral for rabbi who died from coronavirus
Shocking scenes as Charedim defy government guidelines to publicly mourn Rabbi Dovid Soloveitchik. Police didn't prevent superspreader event to avoid 'bloodshed'.
Thousands of people defied government guidelines on Sunday by gathering in Jerusalem for the funeral of a major rabbinical figure.
The mass funeral for Rabbi Dovid Soloveitchik came amid simmering tensions over the Charedi sector’s handling of the pandemic. Soloveitchik, the leader of the Brisk yeshiva, who was 99, died of COVID-19.
Israel is currently under lockdown in an effort to bring a high infection rate under control. Yet in a community where protests against the rules have sometimes turned violent and a leading rabbi has openly advised schools to operate illicitly, thousands of people streamed into the streets to pay their respects. Photos and videos from the funerals showed many attendees without masks.
A top Jerusalem police official said authorities were powerless to stop the gatherings, telling Channel 12, “There would certainly have been bloodshed” had police intervened.
Critics of the government said the crowds were evidence that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not have control of the country’s outbreak. Netanyahu has closed the airport and distributed vaccines at a world-record pace but has not aggressively stepped in in the haredi sector.
In one representative example, Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai tweeted a photo of the crowds with the opposition party slogan, “Only Likud can,” emblasoned over it. “Bibi’s closure, as you can see, is a complete failure. It needs to be stopped and re-planned,” he wrote.
Soloveitchik was the latest in a string of major rabbinic leaders in Charedi communities to die after becoming infected with the coronavirus.
Soloveitchik was born in Poland to a non-Chasidic, or Lithuanian, Orthodox family already famed for its many scholars of Torah. His grandfather had headed the Volozhin Yeshiva, the most prestigious non-Hasidic yeshiva in Europe in the 19th century and his father, Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik, led the yeshiva in the Polish town of Brisk. Yitzchak Zev’s father, Chaim, had founded the Brisk yeshiva and established the Brisker method of Talmud study known for its intellectual rigor.
Dovid Soloveitchik moved to Mandatory Palestine with his father during World War II where Yitzchak Zev reestablished the Brisk yeshiva. After his father’s death, Dovid Soloveitchik established his own yeshiva, also called the Brisk Yeshiva, in Jerusalem where he remained the head of the yeshiva until his death.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
