Canaan Lidor is a former Jewish World reporter at The Times of Israel
Mourners watch from balconies as they gather for the funeral of Rabbi Gershon Edelstein near the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak on May 30, 2023. (JACK GUEZ / AFP)
Tens of thousands of Haredi Jews from across the country are passing through Savidor train station in Tel Aviv en route to Bnei Brak for the funeral of Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, a prominent spiritual leader and the head of a major movement of Ashkenazi Haredi Jews.
The body of Edelstein, who died earlier today at age 100, is being prepared to be brought for burial in a procession from the Ponevezh Yeshivah, which he headed since 2000. The procession, which hundreds of thousands have come to Bnei Brak to attend, is scheduled to end at a local cemetery.
Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, head of the Ponevez Yeshiva, at his home in Bnei Brak, December 19, 2017. (Aharon Krohn/Flash90)
“We feel absolutely orphaned by the passing of this sage, which is also in a sense the passing of a great generation, for he was the last of them,” says one of the mourners who came to the funeral, Itzaleh Katzburg, who used to be a student of Edelstein at the Ponevezh Yeshivah before Edelstein became the Litvak stream’s leader.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
