Approximately 100,000 people are expected to visit the kever of Rav Ovadia Yosef zt”l in Yerushalayim next week, as final preparations are completed for the massive annual aliyah l’kever marking his yahrtzeit.

The pilgrimage to the Sanhedria cemetery is scheduled to begin Tuesday evening, the night of 3 Cheshvan, and continue through Thursday, with organizers preparing transportation, security and crowd-control arrangements for the tens of thousands expected to arrive from across Israel.

A special steering committee has been established to oversee the logistical and operational aspects of the event, working together with police and other relevant authorities. Dozens of security personnel and ushers will be stationed throughout the area to direct the crowds and maintain order.

Transportation is expected to be one of the largest components of the operation. Buses carrying visitors are scheduled to arrive from approximately 70 cities throughout Israel during the yahrtzeit, while public transportation companies are preparing to significantly increase service on local routes serving the area of the kever.

Under the traffic plan, visitors will enter the kever complex from the intersection of Sderot Eshkol and Eretz Chefetz. Bloy Street will be designated for exiting the area only.

Traffic arrangements will also be altered around the Sanhedria Junction and on roads leading toward the cemetery because of the enormous number of visitors anticipated during the event.

Special tents for tefillah will be erected at the site, along with refreshment stations providing drinks for those coming to the kever. Ushers and security personnel will be deployed at multiple points throughout the complex to keep pedestrian traffic moving safely during the three-day period.

Organizers are strongly urging visitors not to arrive in private vehicles because of the heavy congestion expected around Sanhedria and restrictions that will be imposed on private traffic near the cemetery.

Those who do travel toward the area by car are being advised to use municipal parking lots or park in nearby neighborhoods and continue to the kever using public transportation.

The public is also being asked to follow all instructions issued by police officers, security personnel and ushers throughout the yahrtzeit.

Rav Ovadia Yosef, one of the most influential Sephardic poskim and Torah leaders of the modern era, was niftar on 3 Cheshvan 5774, October 7, 2013. His levayah drew an estimated 800,000 people to the streets of Yerushalayim, making it one of the largest funerals in Israel’s history.

In the years since his petirah, his kever in Sanhedria has become a destination for large numbers of visitors throughout the year, with particularly enormous crowds arriving each 3 Cheshvan to mark his yahrtzeit and daven at his resting place.

{Matzav.com}