Tens of thousands attend Strictly Orthodox rabbi Shmuel Auerbach's Jerusalem funeral

He had directed his followers to not even turn up at the induction centres to receive their routine deferral of enlistment and, a number of times last year, sent them out to block the streets of Jerusalem in rowdy protests.

This split in the community was so extensive that it led to the establishment of a separate daily newspaper to articulate Rabbi Auerbach’s positions and those of his followers.

The Lithuanian Charedim are seen as the standard-bearers of Strictly Orthodox ideology and maintain the most prestigious yeshivas.

With the passing of their venerable leaders, there remains a generation of rabbis in their eighties and nineties who do not have the same authority that the previous generation enjoyed.

The schism within the community still exists, but it is hard to see now who will lead either group in the future, or resolve the differences between them.