JERUSALEM (JTA) — One man was killed and three people were critically injured when mourners surged around the coffin during the funeral procession in Israel for a senior haredi Orthodox rabbi.
Nearly 100,000 mourners came to Bnei Brak early Sunday morning for the funeral for Rabbi Shmuel Halevi Wosner, who died on Friday night, shortly before the start of the Passover holiday. He was 101.
The man trampled to death was identified as Mordechai Moti Gerber, 27, of Elad. He was a former student of the rabbi. Gerber is survived by a wife and his young son.
Among the three critically injured was a 14-year-old boy. The police have opened an investigation into possible negligence.
Wosner immigrated to Mandatory Palestine before the outbreak of World War II and later established the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva in Bnei Brak. He is the author of the Shevet Halevi commentary on Jewish law. He had been hospitalized since March.
