Rabbi Elazar Abuchatzeira to be laid to rest in J'lem

Baba Sali's grandson murdered by visitor to his yeshiva; suspect, Rabbi Asher Dahan, remanded for 2 weeks, judge orders psychiatric evaluation.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN, JOANNA PARASZCZUK
mt olives cemetery 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
mt olives cemetery 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Rabbi Elazar Abuchatzeira, stabbed to death shortly after midnight on Friday morning, was scheduled to be laid to rest at the Mount of Olives Cemetery in Jerusalem on Friday afternoon.
Killed at a Beersheba yeshiva, Rabbi Elazar Abuchatzeira was a well known religious figure and the grandson of Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira, known as the Baba Sali, whom his followers believed was able to work miracles.
Stunned followers told police Abuchatzeira was stabbed in the upper body by a man he had received as a visitor.
Rabbi Abuchatzeira was rushed to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba in critical condition. Paramedics attempted to resuscitate him, but he died en route to the hospital.
Police arrested a suspect, Rabbi Asher Dahan, they said was delivered to officers by a crowd. The suspect was taken for questioning.
Judges in the Beersheba Magistrates' Court ruled Friday morning to extend the arrest of Rabbi Dahan.
Dahan's arrest was extended and he will remain in custody until a further hearing on August 10.
Judge Amit Cohen also ordered that Dahan undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
The motive for the homicide has not been established at this stage.
The funeral procession was expected to set out from the Porat Yosef yeshiva in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood around noon on Friday.
Several hundred police officers were deployed along the route of the funeral procession to direct traffic and maintain order.