Jerusalem braces for traffic disruptions as venerated extremist rabbi buried
Major routes in capital to be blocked as tens of thousands expected to gather to bid farewell to Shmuel Auerbach, head of radical, anti-conscription ‘Jerusalem Faction’

Jerusalem braced for major traffic disruptions on Sunday during the funeral of Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, an ultra-Orthodox leader behind long-running demonstrations against the military draft of the Haredi community who died Saturday aged 86.
Police predicted heavy traffic in most routes into the Israeli capital starting 11:30 a.m. (Israel time), urging drivers to “refrain from nearing the area” and instead to use the Arazim tunnel on the Route 9 highway.
Auerbach suffered a heart attack during Shabbat at his Jerusalem home. First responders tried to resuscitate Auerbach and he was taken to the city’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Like in previous deaths of ultra-Orthodox spiritual leaders, tens of thousands of followers are expected to flock the city’s streets during Rabbi Auerbach’s funeral.
Processions are to start at 11 a.m. at the mostly ultra-Orthodox enclave of Shaarei Hesed in the center of Jerusalem, with eulogies set to end around 12:30 p.m. The funeral will then make its way to Har Hamenuhot cemetery, passing through major roads in the center of the city which will be temporarily blocked.

Those routes include Hagra, Kakal, Diskin, Rupin, Ben-Tsvi and Weitzman streets, as well as the area between the Sakharov Gardens junction and Har Hamenuhot.
Police cautioned that no private vehicles would be allowed at the area of the funeral, and called for using public transportation.
Police also called on the public to refrain from bringing small children to the funeral, to stay away from fenced-off areas, and to not climb buildings, street signs, fences or moving vehicles. It warned participants not to get close to the vehicle transporting the body, saying their lives could be in danger.
Using drones to film the funeral was absolutely prohibited, police added, as was gathering on nearby roofs.
Auerbach, who was one of the prominent Lithuanian (non-Hasidic) rabbis in the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, was the leader of the so-called Jerusalem Faction, which has been at the forefront of protests against the conscription of members of the ultra-Orthodox community.
The demonstrations turned violent at times and featured young religious students blocking main streets in Jerusalem and other cities with large ultra-Orthodox populations.
The protests centered around a decades-old debate as to whether young ultra-Orthodox men studying in yeshivas, or seminaries, should be called up for compulsory military service, like the rest of Israel’s Jewish population. After reaching the age of 18, men must serve for 32 months and women for 24.
At the rabbi’s instruction, Auerbach’s followers refused to show up to the draft office to apply for a deferral or exemption from the army. Followers of other rabbis do receive the exemptions and are therefore not arrested.