Israeli leaders were mourning the death of a prominent hassidic rebbe who survived Auschwitz and championed Holocaust remembrance among ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Thousands attended the Jerusalem funeral of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Taub, scion of the Hungarian Kaliver rabbinic dynasty, who died Sunday aged 96. Taub helped produce a two-volume encyclopedia documenting Jewish religious martyrs killed in the Holocaust. His death comes days before Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day, honoring 6 million Jews killed by Nazi Germany.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Taub "survived the horrors of the Holocaust and dedicated himself to rebuilding the world of Torah in the State of Israel and among the Jewish Diaspora."
President Reuven Rivlin said on Twitter that Taub's work "has particular resonance at present as we redouble our commitment to remember and never forget."
