STORY: The men clad in traditional ultra-Orthodox garb came to this ultra-Orthodox town for the funeral of Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, a spiritual leader of the United Torah Judaism party which is part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition.

Police closed off streets in and around Bnei Brak, including part of a highway to regular traffic to accommodate fleets of busses ferrying mourners to the city.

Edelstein was born in Russia, near the border with Belarus, and immigrated to what was then British-ruled Palestine in 1934.