Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews, dressed in black and white, attended Cohen’s funeral in Jerusalem this afternoon
The spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Sephardi party Shas (“Guardians of the Torah”), Rabbi Salom Cohenpassed away today at the age of 91.
Cohen was admitted to the hospital last week I guessed of Jerusalem but his condition worsened Sunday night, according to his family. “It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of our father, our teacher and leader (…) rabbi and sage Shalom Cohen,” the party’s political leader, Aryeh Deri, said in a statement. “Woe to the world that has lost its leader and to the ship that has lost its captain,” he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid expressed his condolences “to his family, his students and those who honor his memory.”
Shalom Cohen was chairman of the Council of Torah Sages, the highest body of Shas. This party is currently the third political force in the Knesset.
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews, dressed in black and white, attended Cohen’s funeral in Jerusalem this afternoon. Also present were Israel’s two chief rabbis, David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef, as well as representatives of political parties. Many streets in the city were closed to traffic and hundreds of police officers were mobilized to maintain order, police said.
Shalom Cohen was born in 1930 in Jerusalem and succeeded Ovandia Yosef in the Shas party, who died in October 2013. He was also the head of Porat Yosef, the main Sephardic Talmud school in Jerusalem, where he had studied.
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