A leading Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox rabbi has called on Haredi political parties to refrain from participating in Zionist institutions like the Jewish Agency and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund.

The letter by Rabbi Dov Landau, published Tuesday in Yated Ne’eman, a newspaper affiliated with the non-Hasidic Degel Hatorah faction in United Torah Judaism, is seen as a strategic move in his ongoing campaign to exempt ultra-Orthodox men from service in the IDF.

“Zionism is a movement that aims to place the people of Israel on a purely secular basis, which is heresy and rebellion against divine rule,” Landau wrote. “All national institutions are built on this, and there is no permission to participate with them or hold any office among them or vote in elections for national institutions, in any way whatsoever.”

“Doing so would constitute heresy and the desecration of the name of God. And the fact that we are participating in Knesset elections according to the instruction of our rabbis has nothing to do with any of the above,” he added.

The statement may have implications for the World Zionist Congress elections,........

© The Times of Israel