Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Memorial Draws 40,000
Image by getty images
Some 40,000 people participated in a memorial for Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in Jerusalem at the end of the mourning period.
The memorial on Sunday evening at the grave site of the Shas party spiritual leader marked the end of the seven-day shiva period for the one-time Sephardic chief rabbi, who died on Oct. 7 at the age of 93.
Several roads in the city near the cemetery were closed off several hours before the memorial, where some 20 people were injured due to crowding, according to reports.
Shas party leaders and other prominent rabbis participated in the ceremony, including Yosef’s son and the current chief Sephardic rabbi, Yitzhak Yosef; party head Aryeh Deri; and former Sephardic chief rabbi Shlomo Amar.
The haredi Orthodox news website Kikar Shabbat reported Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was denied permission to eulogize Yosef at his funeral because he is not religious, citing an unnamed member of the burial society.
Hundreds of thousands of mourners filled Jerusalem for the funeral.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
