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Monsey residents can expect road closures and heavy traffic as thousands gather early Friday afternoon for the funeral of Rabbi Mordechai Hager, who died at the age of 95.
The grand rabbi of the Viznitz Hasidim in Kaser-Monsey died Friday at Mount Sinai Hospital where he had been recovering from a major illness.
Ramapo police said all of Route 306 from Route 59 until Grandview Road will be closed for the next several hours as mourners gather. Rockland County officials said that TOR Loop 1 and Loop 2 bus routes have been suspended as well.
Hager was the fifth Rebbe of the Viznitz Hasidic dynasty with more than 5,000 families in New York, said the Israeli International News.
The Viznitz sect is named after a town in Ukraine where the sect was formed.
Believed to the be the oldest Chasidic rebbe in the world, Hager, and his wife had 14 children, said the Israeli International News.
His oldest son, the Vizhnitzer Rebbe of Borough Park, Rabbi Pinchas Shalom Hager, died two years ago after suffering complications from spinal surgery, his other sons are leaders of Vizhnitz communities in Monsey, Kiamesha Lake, Williamsburg, Jerusalem, Montreal, London and Beit Shemesh.
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