I was zoche to be one of the 700,000 to attend the levaya yesterday of Rav Ovadia Yosef zt’l.
One thing that struck me was the sense of achdus that rarely is experienced in EY. Present were Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Livish, Chasidish, traditional/ chilonim, Mizrachim – all colors and stripes coming together for one purpose – to show respect for a Gadol b’Torah who sacrificed for Klal Yisroel. Could there be a more impressive kiddush hashem!
The climax for me was when the aveilim said kadish and everyone in unison answered Yehai Shmei Raba – an inspiring moment of achdus – a taste of vy’aasu koolum aguda uchus !
What a shame it takes a levaya of a Godol b’Yisroel to put our differences aside, remove the pirud that so blatently plagues our nation and instead focus on what unites us !!!