JERUSALEM: Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, the spiritual leader of Israel’s non-Hassidic ultra-Orthodox Jews of European descent, has died. He was 104.
Shteinman died on Tuesday from a heart attack after falling ill weeks ago.
Shteinman was one of Israel’s most influential rabbis and a political kingmaker whose orders were strictly followed by his representatives in parliament.
Following the 2012 death of his predecessor, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, he was widely regarded as “Gadol Hador,” or “leader of the generation.” Hundreds of thousands are expected to attend his funeral in the central Israeli ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak.
Shteinman was known for his rabbinic scholarship, relatively pragmatic rulings and extremely modest lifestyle.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin called him a leader who “carried on his shoulders the existential weight of the Jewish people.”
Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jewish leader Shteinman dies at 104
Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jewish leader Shteinman dies at 104
Lebanon to delay May elections due to conflict with Israel, officials say
- The sources said Lebanon’s president, prime minister and parliament speaker had agreed on the move on Tuesday
- It would still require the approval of a majority of Lebanon’s 128-member legislature
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s leaders have agreed on a plan to postpone parliamentary elections scheduled for May and to extend parliament’s term by two years after the resumption of conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah this week and growing war in the Middle East, two senior Lebanese officials said.
The sources said Lebanon’s president, prime minister and parliament speaker had agreed on the move on Tuesday. It would still require the approval of a majority of Lebanon’s 128-member legislature.
Lebanon, which last held parliamentary polls in 2022, has been pulled into the war in the Middle East, with Hezbollah on Tuesday launching missiles at Israel for a second consecutive day and Israel sending troops into the south and carrying out waves of airstrikes.
The theater for numerous conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon was drawn into the spillover from the war between the United States, Israel and Iran on Monday, when Hezbollah opened fire with drones and missiles.
With dozens of people killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes, Hezbollah’s move to enter the conflict has sharpened long-standing divisions in Lebanon over its status as an armed group — the only Lebanese faction to keep its weapons after the 1975-90 civil war.
“It does not appear that conditions will be conducive to holding elections for some time,” one of the officials said.
