View of Berlin, Germany. A Berlin Jewish leader called on European rabbis to “help save the European Union.” Photo: WikiCommons.

JNS.org – Chabad-Lubavitch movement Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, rabbi of the Jewish Community of Berlin, has called on European rabbis to “help save the European Union” after the United Kingdom voted to exit the 28-country bloc. Teichtal made his comments in a meeting with the parliamentary head of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which is the second-largest political party in Germany.

Teichtal said he is calling on other European rabbis and Jewish leaders to “take action” against other member nations potentially choosing to leave the EU.

“I call upon the leaders of all Jewish communities around Europe to do whatever they can and execute all of their influence, in order to prevent any other countries from leaving the EU,” Teichtel said. “The possibility of dismantling the EU and reverting back to nation states should worry all Jewish people around Europe….A strong European union is a paramount interest to the Jewish people of Europe in general and to Jewish people of Germany in particular.”

Teichtal also expressed concern over “the strengthening of nationalism and of extreme right-wing parties and movements” in the UK, and said that “the Jewish community in Berlin joins a great number of Jewish community leaders from all over Europe who expressed their sorrow over the UK’s decision,” The Jewish Press reported.