More than 10,000 people accompanied Rabbi Chanan Porat, 67, to his final resting place today, after his passing Tuesday following a long struggle with cancer.
The MK, who served nearly 20 years as a lawmaker, was described by Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin as “a teacher and rabbi, visionary and activist, poet and warrior” in his eulogy to the multitude.
Few people are both visionaries and achievers, poets and politicians, noted Rivlin, “but you, Hanan, you knew well how to do it.”
Among those attending the funeral were the Chief Rabbis of Israel, several government ministers and a number of Knesset members.
Rabbi Porat was among those who led the Jewish return to Gush Etzion following the 1967 Six Day War, one of the first to re-establish the community of Kfar Etzion.
He was also a founder of the Gush Emunim movement (“Territory of the Believers”), a group that led Jewish settlement in the regions of Judea and Samaria after the war.
Rabbi Porat taught in several yeshivas, including Yeshivat Har Etzion, Yeshivat HaKibbutz HaDati in Ein Tzurim, and the Beit Orot Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Earlier this year, he received an award for Jewish Creativity for his books and poetry.
Read more: Arutz Sheva
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Rabbi Chanan Porat, z’l. May his memory be for a blessing. He was well-loved by all, not only by the nationalist religious world, but by the non-religious and very religious. Read on Arutz7 where 10,000 people attended his levaya. May this year bring us only good news.