JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A 52-year-old Torah scholar was fatally stabbed inside a prominent study hall in the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak on Wednesday in an attack that authorities believe was carried out by a mentally disturbed man following a bizarre dispute over the study of the Rambam’s writings.

The killing, which occurred on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, has shaken Israel’s charedi community and stunned members of the famed Chazon Ish kollel, where the victim, Rabbi Yishai Por, had studied for more than two decades.

Emergency responders rushed Por to Sheba Medical Center in critical condition after he suffered severe injuries, including a wound to a major artery. Doctors later pronounced him dead.

Security camera footage obtained by investigators reportedly shows the suspect fleeing down a stairwell immediately after the attack.

Investigators are examining reports of an escalating dispute between the suspect and Por related to Torah study. According to witnesses, the suspect repeatedly confronted Por in recent days over his study of the writings of Maimonides, known in Jewish tradition as the Rambam, insisting that learning the medieval sage’s works was forbidden.

Fellow scholars at the kollel said the suspect allegedly threatened Por the night before the attack, warning him that because he continued studying the Rambam’s writings, he “would not complete the year.”

Despite the confrontations, friends said Por continued his regular Torah study schedule and avoided engaging in arguments.

Por, who was born during the Sukkot holiday in 1973, studied in his youth at Yeshivat Ahavat Aharon in Bnei Brak under Rabbi Betzalel Edelstein. Friends and fellow scholars described him as humble, righteous and among the most diligent avreichim at the Chazon Ish kollel.

Community members said Por divided his time for years between Jerusalem and Bnei Brak, often spending entire weeks immersed in Torah study at the kollel.

Just six months ago, he celebrated the bar mitzvah of his son in Meron.

Members of the kollel and the broader charedi community struggled Wednesday to process the killing inside one of Bnei Brak’s most respected centers of Torah learning.

Por is survived by his wife and son.