Rav Meshulam Dovid Soloveitchik, rosh yeshiva of one of the Brisk yeshivas in Jerusalem, passed away on Sunday at the age of 99, three months after he contracted Corona.
Thousands of people took part in Rav Soloveitchik’s funeral on Sunday, despite the coronavirus lockdown and efforts by police to work with yeshiva leaders to lower the number of participants.
A number of politicians expressed outrage at the mass attendance at the funeral procession that broke Health Ministry regulations.
“[This is] very bad in every way,” tweeted deputy health minister Yoav Kisch in response to the funeral. “Public attitude to restrictions, poor. Police ability to enforce, poor. A funeral that will, unfortunately, lead to more funerals. Then they wonder why the lockdown does not reduce the infection rates.”
“Millions of families and children are locked in their homes and abide by the rules while thousands of haredim crowd the funeral, most of them even without masks,” said Defense Minister Benny Gantz. “We will not agree to the continuation of an ineffective fake lockdown. Either everyone is locked down – or everyone opens. The days of indulgence are over.”
The rabbi was born in Brest, Belarus in the Jewish community known as Brisk in 1921 and was a scion of the Soloveitchik dynasty. His father, Rabbi Yitzchok Zev Halevi Soloveitchik, known as the Brisker Rav, re-established the Brisk yeshiva in Jerusalem after fleeing the Holocaust and the yeshiva later split into a number of yeshivas headed by his sons. Meshulam Dovid’s grandfather was Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik, who was the son of Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, also known as the Beis Halevi.
Rav Dovid Soloveitchik, referred to as “the elder of the Roshei yeshivos,” leaves behind his wife, two sons, and a daughter.
