Bakshi-Doron laid to rest in front of handful of mourners

Former Sephardi chief rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron is laid to rest this morning in front of only some 20 mourners at the Har Hamenuhot cemetery in Jerusalem. Bakshi-Doron died last night at the age of 79 after succumbing to COVID-19.

The present Sephardi chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef mourns Bakshi-Doron over the phone: “Woe to the world that has lost a leader and woe to the ship that has lost its captain,” says Yosef.

Also speaking over the phone, Aryeh Deri, chairman of the Shas (Torah observant Sephardim) party, says “the pain is enormous. It is impossible to comprehend that we are here today, during the days of Passover, and we cannot pay our last respects to our rabbi and teacher.” Orthodox Jews typically don’t deliver full eulogies during the month of Passover.

The funeral of Rabbi Bakshi Doron, who died from complications of COVID-19 at the Har HaMenuhot cemetery in Jerusalem, April 13, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)