d'malkhuta dina (the law of the land). In 2017, Kanievsky ruled that reporting instances of sexual child abuse to the police is consistent with halakha. In 2011, Kanievsky interpreted Arab Spring uprisings as evidence that the Messiah might be near. In 2015, following the 2014 Jerusalem synagogue attack, he repeatedly referred to the imminent arrival of the Messiah, and urged diaspora Jews to make aliyah, reportedly resulting in the arrival of a substantial number of French Jews. In February 2020, shortly before the Israeli legislative elections, it was reported by one rabbi that Kanievsky had stated that the coming of the Messiah was possibly imminent. COVID-19 At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Kanievsky told his followers that the best ways to defeat the virus were to avoid lashon hara (gossiping about one's peers), to strengthen humility, and to place the needs of others before their own. As a result of the discussion, he was visited, on March 15, by senior police officials who, with great respect, wanted to ask him of the importance of following the orders of medical professionals with regard to the outbreak. Kanievsky endorsed vaccination for all, and wished the experts success in the national campaign of vaccination. On March 29, after the Haredi community was hit hard by the virus, with Bnei Brak having a high percentage of coronavirus cases in Israel, relative to its population, he ruled that one who does not follow the Ministry of Health's guidelines on COVID-19 is in the position of a rodef, i. e., one who pursues another with intent to kill, a murderer. He also ruled that telephones may be answered on Shabbat to get COVID-19 test results, and that minyanim (prayer groups) must not meet at all during the pandemic. This was a stricter requirement than the Health Ministry's rules, which at the time allowed congregations to meet outdoors, as long as participants are at least two meters (6 feet) distant from each other. On October 2, Kanievsky was diagnosed with COVID-19. On October 28, 2020, his physician said Kanievsky had recovered from the virus. At one point in 2020, Kanievsky advocated for Jewish academies to remain open. On the 11th of October, however, he rescinded this advice. Death Kanievsky died at his home in Bnei Brak on March 18, 2022, at the age of 94. Around 750,000 mourners attended his funeral two days later,