Uri Lupolianski, only ultra-Orthodox mayor of Jerusalem, dies at 74

Former Jerusalem mayor Uri Lupolianski died overnight Wednesday, aged 74. Lupolianski had suffered from a lengthy illness and was recently hospitalized.

Lupolianski was the capital’s first, and so far only, ultra-Orthodox mayor, serving in the post between 2003 and 2008. He was later convicted of bribery and sentenced to prison for accepting bribes in the Holyland affair in order to fund Yad Sarah, one of Israel’s largest charitable organizations, which he founded.

He is survived by his wife, 12 children, and over 50 grandchildren.

Lupolianski’s funeral procession will set out at 11 a.m. from his home in the Sanhedria neighborhood of Jerusalem to the capital’s Har HaMenuchot cemetery, where he will be buried.

“We are stunned and pained at the passing of our revered leader, a pillar of kindness,” Yad Sarah said in a statement. “Who can fill his place? Woe to the ship that has lost its captain.”

MK Meir Porush, who also served on the Jerusalem city council and was the ultra-Orthodox candidate for mayor after Lupolianski, said “the Jewish people, and the city of Jerusalem in particular, have lost one of the most precious, kind people.”

Economy Minister Nir Barkat, who succeeded Lupolianski as mayor after defeating Porush in the 2008 election, said, “Uri was a man dedicated to giving, who set up and managed the great charity organization Yad Sarah, and who also gave much to the development and prosperity of Jerusalem. I will not forget his captivating smile and nobility.”

Lupolianski was born in Haifa in 1951 and served in the Israel Defense Forces as a medic. He later moved to Jerusalem, where he was a teacher in a religious school.

He founded Yad Sarah in 1976. He was inspired to do so after facing difficulties in obtaining a vaporizer for his youngest son, and set up a volunteer medical equipment lending service in his home. The organization was named after his grandmother, who perished in the Holocaust.

Yad Sarah grew over the years and now  has over 100 branches across the country. Lupolianski was awarded the Israel Prize in 1994 for his efforts. He was also given the President’s Award for Volunteerism and the Knesset Speaker’s Prize, among others, for his Yad Sarah work.

In 1989, Lupolianski won a seat on the Jerusalem city council, representing the ultra-orthodox Degel Hatorah party. He went on to become mayor in 2003, the capital’s first ultra-Orthodox leader, though he largely worked to maintain the religious-secular status quo in the city. He did not seek a second term.

Lupolianski was one of eight former officials and businessmen convicted in March 2014 in the Holyland affair, which has been characterized as among the largest graft cases in Israel’s history, and which involved a major real estate project in Jerusalem. Among those convicted were former Jerusalem mayor and Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert.

During the trial, the court found that the bribes Lupolianski received had been used to fund Yad Sarah rather than to line his own pocket. But it also noted that “the bribe money was used to increase his power and influence.”

Though sentenced to six years in prison, the Supreme Court commuted it to six months of community service due to health complications Lupolianksi already had at the time. He spent the latter years of his life continuing to manage and develop Yad Sarah.