The Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks has paid tribute to Marc Weinberg, the former executive director of Bnei Akiva and co-founder of the London School of Jewish Studies, who died last Thursday in Israel of leukaemia, aged 35.

Lord Sacks described him as "one of the outstanding leaders of his generation" whose "vision, faith, passion and compassion drew people to him, and he drew the best from them. In a short life he wrote a long chapter in the story of our people in our time. He will be deeply mourned and long remembered."

Mr Weinberg's mother was former executive director of the Chief Rabbi's office Syma Weinberg.

More than 1,500 people attended the funeral at the cemetery in Modi'in. Hundreds have posted tribute messages on Facebook to Mr Weinberg, who leaves his wife, Natalie, and two young children, Yona and Maayan. He had been ill for three years and had a bone marrow transplant in April.

Mr Weinberg made aliyah in 2006 and was in the process of setting up a new synagogue in Modi'in.

Each of Bnei Akiva's camps will take part in a programme to learn the entire Tanach in his memory, while Lord Sacks has dedicated his next book to him.

Eliot Kaye, who co-founded the Alei Tzion minyan in London with Mr Weinberg, said that he "was one of our most dynamic leaders - everyone at the funeral spoke of ways he had inspired them and encouraged them".