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Lev Tahor: in the footsteps of the "Jewish Taliban" in America


In the early morning of December 18, 2018, an international commando was about to deliver a withering blow to Lev Tahor , an extremist sect that was called "the Jewish Taliban" by the Israeli press after leaving a trail of more than 40 years of accusations of forced marriages, human trafficking, sexual abuse and child abuse.


The leaders of the group had traveled from Guatemala to New York to kidnap two minors, a 14-year-old girl and her 12-year-old brother. They used disguises, false names and passports, disposable phones, and traveled by land and air to avoid being discovered. Their final destination was to return to Guatemala, where the group had settled four years earlier, with the goal of returning the teenager to the "husband" the community had chosen for her.


After weeks of investigation, the satellite tracking of one of the mobiles used by the kidnappers led FBI agents , the Mexican Federal Police, state police and diplomatic personnel to the doors of an unimaginable hiding place: San Miguel Tlaixpán, a small town in the state of of Mexico with less than 15,000 inhabitants.


The transnational command broke into a large house in the town minutes after three in the morning, according to police reports declassified this year. The land is nestled on a hill, between narrow and steep streets, surrounded by chicken coops and trees. "You could tell they weren't people from here, they were very white," recalls Yolanda, a neighbor who lives a couple of houses away.



Shocking New Details Revealed in Death of Lev Tahor Cult Leader


JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Yoel Levy, former member of Lev Tahor, revealed stunning new details about the death of cult leader Shlomo Helbrans, as well as the events leading up to it.


Mr. Levy, who escaped the cult, described to B’Chadrei Charedim how the 2017 drowning took place, and how the cult fled Guatemala on Shabbos. He said that Helbrans feared that he would be caught imminently, so they fled in the middle of the night. They traveled 15 hours on Shabbos to Mexico, with Helbrans claiming it was “pikuach nefesh”, since “Zionists and American authorities” were after him.


The Friday of Helbrans’ death, a few weeks after they arrived in Mexico, he immersed in the river before Shabbos, clutching a rope that was held by his Gabbai standing at the river bank.


Life after Lev Tahor: 18-year-old grateful to be back in Quebec


Mendy Levy is an enthusiastic 18-year-old Jewish DJ and photographer who loves to play his keyboard and share pictures and videos on social media. But growing up in the ultra-orthodox community of Lev Tahor, none of those activities were allowed.


"The synagogue, the rabbi's house, my own house, there's a lot of memories in each part of this place," Levy told Radio-Canada during a visit to the former Lev Tahor community in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Que. — about 100 kilometres north of Montreal.


"Bad memories, mostly," he said. "The abuse we had, the hitting, every single thing that I went through here.


"But I definitely have some good memories of being with my family, my mother," he said.


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