Haredi rabbi in Israel tells followers to burn iPhones

A store worker picks up a new Apple iPhone 5 during the launch on Sept. 21. Photo by REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

A prominent haredi Orthodox rabbi in Israel ordered his followers to burn their iPhones.

The call by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, 84, appeared Sunday on the front page of the religious daily newspaper Yated Neeman, according to the Failed Messiah website.

Following the decree by Kanievsky, large posters appeared throughout Jerusalem’s haredi neighborhoods calling iPhones “an abomination 24 hours a day” and urging community members to kick iPhone owners out of religious seminaries, The Associated Press reported. Community members also are warned in the posters to keep their children away from the children of iPhone users.

The warnings come amid a recent push by the haredi Orthodox to keep their community away from the temptations of the outside world, notably the Internet.