Historical Document: Leading Sephardic Rabbis Warn Against Participation in Zionist Elections
TO OUR BRETHREN, THE G-D-FEARING JEWS
In the Holy Land in general, and the Sephardic Jewish community in particular:
On the occasion of the upcoming elections announced by the heretical regime that rebels against G-d and His Torah, for the purpose of appointing representatives to enact laws of heresy, immorality, and abomination, and since false leaders have arisen who seek to persuade and mislead innocent Jews into participating in this regime and sending representatives to that assembly from which destruction, ruin, and defiance of the Torah of Moses emerge, we have found it necessary to publish the names of the great Torah sages of blessed memory.
These sages foresaw the actions of the leaders of this heretical regime and warned future generations against associating with them, joining their institutions, or lending them support.
They fought with all their strength against the founders of the Zionist movement and against its harmful influence.
THESE ARE THEIR NAMES:
Rabbi Raphael Yedidya Abulafia
Head of the Kabbalists of Beit El
Rabbi Chaim Hezekiah Medini
Author of Sdei Chemed
Rabbi Ovadia Somekh
Leading Babylonian Rabbi
Rabbi Eliyahu Mani
Chief Rabbi of Hebron
Rabbi Shlomo Eliezer Alfandari
The Holy Elder (Saba Kadisha)
Rabbi Shaul Dweck HaKohen
Head of the Kabbalists in Jerusalem
Rabbi Yaakov Chaim Sofer
Author of Kaf HaChaim
Rabbi Tzadka Chutzin
Rabbi of the Sephardic Haredi Community
(To avoid excessive length, we have not reproduced their letters here. Readers are referred to the relevant historical sources and works in which their statements appear.)
And now, "little foxes" have arisen, destroying vineyards and attempting to mislead the Sephardic Jewish community with false claims and empty promises. They seek to draw people into the net of the heretics and their followers.
Do not listen to them.
With their mouths they speak peace, but in their hearts they plot evil. In private they associate with evildoers and corrupters, and for the sake of worldly gain they compromise the laws of the Torah.
What answer will a person give on the Day of Judgment when asked:
Why did you lend your support and send a representative to the assembly of the heretics?
Why did you become a partner and companion to the wicked?
Why did you sit and listen to words of unbelief?
Why did you choose a man who stood publicly and pledged loyalty to laws and institutions established contrary to the Torah?
JEW — REMEMBER!
Those who participate in the elections become partners in the state's heretical laws.
Every vote cast adds strength to those laws.
NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC
To those who claim that a person who does not participate in the elections effectively gives his vote to the largest party:
This claim is false.
Representatives elected to the Knesset are chosen solely according to the votes actually cast by voters.