Editor’s Note: Yeshiva World News (YWN) takes no official position in the ongoing debate regarding participation in the World Zionist Organization (WZO) elections. As always, YWN follows the guidance of its Rabbanim in determining what content to publish and which advertisements to accept. We urge our readers to do the same—seek the counsel of your Rav or Manhig and follow their direction regarding this, and any other hashkafic matter. ___________________________________ To our Rabbanim, Kehillos, and the broader Jewish community: With broken hearts, we write this urgent plea to expose a grave betrayal—one that threatens the integrity of our children’s chinuch and the hashkafa of our kehillos, all for financial handouts from the World Zionist Organization (WZO). We are not extremists. We support Eretz Yisroel, we daven for Tzahal, and we stand with our people. But what is happening under the guise of “supporting Torah” is nothing less than a sale of our children’s neshamos to an anti-Torah agenda. For years, the WZO has infiltrated yeshivos and shuls, offering financial incentives in exchange for participation in their elections. We were told this was about “fighting Reform influence” and “securing funding for Torah institutions.” But what they didn’t tell us was the real cost of that money. We recently discovered that our own children—yeshiva talmidim and bnos Yisroel—were forced to complete projects glorifying Zionist leaders like Theodor Herzl and David Ben-Gurion. The schools didn’t even send these projects home—they were hidden from parents, buried under bureaucracy, sent only to the WZO to “prove” our schools were properly promoting Zionist values. When one concerned parent—a graduate of Ner Yisrael, staunchly opposed to the WZO—questioned a menahel, he was brushed off. “Nothing to see here,” they said. But when a courageous teacher leaked the files from the school’s computer, the truth was laid bare: our children were being brainwashed into admiring Herzl, a man who advocated converting Jews to Christianity and refused to give his own son a bris milah. Even worse, images have surfaced of rabbanim unknowingly standing in front of banners of Herzl inside a beis haknesses, all part of the WZO’s demands to maintain funding. We are told that Gedolei Yisrael support the WZO-backed Shas Olami movement. The WZO proudly flaunts endorsements from Hacham Yitzchak Yosef and Hacham Avraham Salim, and Hacham Yitzchak is even being flown to America before Pesach to give a bracha those who vote in the election. But did these gedolim know the full truth? Were they told that their signatures would lead to bnos Yisroel creating projects celebrating IDF enlistment? Did they know that their names would be used to justify embedding Zionist propaganda in our yeshivos? Would Hacham Ovadia zt”l have allowed this? Would Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l have stood for this? We know the answer. Baruch Hashem, our Sephardic kehillos are built on Torah and self-sufficiency. We are not beggars. We already pour millions into supporting Torah in Eretz Yisroel and around the world. We do not need Zionist money that comes at the price of our children’s hashkafa. We are begging our Rabbanim, our community leaders, and those with influence: do not let this continue. Do not allow the WZO to buy their way into our mosdos with a few dollars. We plead with Hacham Yitzchak Yosef and Hacham Avraham Salim: if you truly knew […]