Or HaChaim Pilgrimage Draws 140,000 to Mount of Olives

More than 140,000 worshippers visited the Mount of Olives at 07:55 IDT for the annual hillula of Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar, the 18th-century Torah scholar revered as the Or HaChaim. The pilgrimage followed major planning by the Religious Services Ministry, Jerusalem Municipality, Burial Grounds Council, Israel Police, Magen David Adom and Fire and Rescue; private cars were barred and shuttle buses ran around the clock. The gathering shows Jerusalem's living Torah memory, with authorities protecting religious devotion at one of the Jewish people's most sacred historic landscapes.