Thousands of people, including local dignitaries and political officials, turned out for the funeral of senior Australian Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner, who died Monday.

Attendees filled the grounds of the Yeshiva Centre, the Melbourne headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch, for the ceremony saluting the more than 50 years Groner spent championing Jewish education.

“When he arrived here, the Holocaust victims needed their own special care, and he had the ability to relate to people at their level, whether it be European Jews or boys brought up here in Australia,” said Yeshiva Centre chairman Don Wolf, according to the Australian Associated Press. “He was a very good listener, and could inspire people from different walks of life.”

After the funeral, a flight took Groner’s coffin to Israel for burial at Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives cemetery. …