Packed funeral for ultra-Orthdox rabbi inflames Covid tensions in Israel

Images of thousands gathered at ceremony described as a spit in the face of entire country'

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Frustration over a punishing second lockdown in Israel has been inflamed by national resentment directed at sections of the ultra-Orthodox community, who have refused to halt mass religious events and clashed with police attempting to disperse them.

While most of the country remained locked up at home in the hopes of curbing a raging infection rate that threatens to spiral out of control, thousands of men gathered shoulder-to-shoulder this week at a funeral for Rabbi Mordechai Leifer, 64, who died of Covid-19 complications.