In a recent conversation that should alarm anyone concerned with Israeli social cohesion, Rabbi Dov Landau – one of the most influential leaders in the haredi world – presented views that suggest the gulf between the ultra-Orthodox and mainstream Israeli society is widening rather than narrowing.
The timing is particularly striking. As Israel faces unprecedented security challenges and political leaders grapple with the perennial question of haredi military service, Rabbi Landau’s interview, a transcript of which was published on the Kikar website, represents not just a maintenance of traditional haredi anti-Zionist positions, but an intensification.
Although there have been a number of important haredi rabbis with comments seemingly tone deaf to the wider Israeli public, there is no doubting that Rabbi Landau is the most senior so far.
This is also not his first controversial statement. Much earlier in the war he was filmed talking to a reserve colonel who had returned from the front, about haredim and the national war effort.
Among other things, Rabbi Landau expressed his opinion (the equivalent of a ruling in Jewish Law) that haredi boys studying in yeshiva should not attend the funerals of soldiers, visit the mourners or visit the wounded. All this would disturb their Torah study, which is the only thing important for Israel’s national security.
His central claim – that Torah study alone protects Israel – is expressed in stark terms: “There’s no explanation for why the Arabs don’t unite to flood the entire land and, God forbid, destroy everyone... There’s nothing to attribute it to except Torah study.”
He goes further to explicitly argue that soldiers’ deaths occur “because we don’t study enough.”
This theological certainty leads him to a remarkable conclusion: “It’s hard to put into words the power that each boy studying Torah has on saving the Jewish people.”
Most remarkably, Rabbi Landau ventures into territory more commonly associated with the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta than mainstream haredi leadership. He praises pre-state arrangements where Jews lived under Arab rule, noting approvingly how Rabbi Chaim Sonnenfeld interacted with Arab leaders: “If the Arabs had received such treatment, the situation would be different.”
He even suggests that it would be “quite good that Arabs rule here, the best situation.” Such positions go beyond traditional Agudath Israel non-Zionism into active antipathy to Jewish sovereignty.
Religious Zionist soldiers died due to "distorted Torah"
Rabbi Landau’s contempt for Religious Zionism is particularly striking. He dismisses religious Zionist soldiers who die defending Israel, claiming “they die because their rabbis teach them distorted Torah.”
This disparagement of religious Zionist ideology and its Torah scholarship comes at a time when Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich advocates for finding an agreed solution with haredi leadership on conscription.
The irony is painful: while Smotrich seeks compromise and mutual respect, the haredi leadership he hopes to negotiate with fundamentally rejects the legitimacy of his community’s Torah worldview. This represents appeasement that fundamentally misunderstands the chasm separating the Torah of the Zionist world and that of the haredi world.
Landau’s description of modern secular Israelis is equally dismissive, portraying them as completely disconnected from Judaism, unlike their predecessors who at least “spoke Yiddish.”
“Today’s secular people weren’t educated in Judaism, they have nothing at all... They are not connected to anything,” he states, unequivocally. Such rhetoric serves to further isolate the haredi community and makes any future integration more difficult.
The interview with Rabbi Landau exposes a paradox at the heart of current haredi politics. While haredi parties wield meaningful power in government and secure ever-increasing state funding for their institutions, their spiritual leadership continues to double-down on rhetoric that delegitimizes the very state they rely upon.
THIS HARDENING of positions comes at a crucial moment. The October 7 attacks and subsequent war have led many Israelis to question the sustainability of current haredi exemptions from military service.
Rather than acknowledging these concerns, Rabbi Landau’s response essentially dismisses them, claiming credit for Israel’s survival through Torah study alone.
The government’s continued attempts to find legislative solutions to haredi military service appear increasingly futile in light of such statements.
Smotrich’s vision, echoed by Israel Katz, the defense minister from the Likud, of achieving haredi conscription through cooperation with haredi leadership fundamentally misreads the situation.
When Rabbi Landau dismisses Religious Zionist Torah as “distorted” and sees their soldiers’ deaths as a consequence of insufficient haredi Torah study, what basis exists for meaningful dialogue?
Rather than spending political capital on new conscription laws that will be rejected by the very leadership they’re meant to appease, Israel would be better served by acknowledging this reality and exploring alternative approaches to managing the relationship between the haredi community and the state.
Smotrich’s accommodating approach, while well-intentioned, inadvertently legitimizes a leadership that shows nothing but disdain for his own community’s sacrifices and Torah scholarship.
For those hoping that shared national challenges might bridge the secular-religious divide, Rabbi Landau’s words are deeply discouraging.
They suggest that the haredi leadership is moving toward more extreme, not more moderate positions – in contrast to parts of the haredi community seeking more accommodation with Israeli society.
This trajectory poses serious questions about the long-term sustainability of current arrangements between the haredi community and the state.
The writer, a founding partner of Goldrock Capital, is the founder of The Institute for Jewish and Zionist Research. He is a former chairman of Gesher, World Bnei Akiva, and the Coalition for Haredi Employment.