Thousands of people gathered in Jerusalem on Tuesday for the funeral of Yael Cohen, the wife of Shas party spiritual leader Rabbi Shalom Cohen.
Yael Cohen passed away aged 78 at Bnei Brak's Ma'ayanei Hayeshua hospital in the early hours of this morning, after a long battle with a terminal illness.
Rabbi Cohen, who heads the Shas Council of Torah Sages and is dean of the Porat Yosef yeshiva in Jerusalem, led the funeral proceedings for his wife. At his request, due to the extremely hot weather eulogies were kept relatively short, to avoid people suffering in the heat.
Among those who delivered eulogies was Council of Torah Sages member Rabbi Shimon Baadani, who praised Yael for her unwavering support of her husband's role as a teacher and leader, noting in particular how she single-handedly ran the household to enable Rabbi Cohen to spend more time teaching Torah.
Her brother, Rabbi Masoud Ben-Shimon - dean of the Ohr Elitzur yeshiva - recounted how his ever-sensitive sister, sensing her imminent demise, recently asked him for forgiveness for anything she may have done to upset him in her life.
Following other eulogies - including one by Jerusalem's Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar - Rabbi Shalom Cohen tearfully credited his wife with all the Torah he had taught his students.
"In her merit, we received the Torah," he said, choking back tears.
The funeral procession began at the Porat Yosef yeshiva in Jerusalem's Geulah neighborhood, and from there moved on to Sanhedria cemetery, where Yael Cohen was laid to rest.