Over 100,000 mourners have attended the funeral of the former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, Mordechai Eliahu, in Jerusalem. He died on Monday at the age of 81. Eliahu, considered a key spiritual leader of the religious Zionist community, played a major role in moving parts of this community closer to ultra-Orthodox thought and practice, spawning what became known as the Hardal movement.
Eliahu was also a spiritual patron of the settler movement, national religious political parties and various right-wing organizations. He was revered by Ashkenazi and Sephardic religious Zionists alike, and despite his Zionism was also widely respected by ultra-Orthodox rabbis.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement expressing the sadness at the loss of a great rabbinic leader. Chief rabbis Shlomo Amar and the Yona Metzger spoke at the funeral.
