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Lev Tahor cult defies court order removing children



Fourteen children from the Lev Tahor cult ordered to foster care are still living with the contentious Jewish group led by Israeli convict Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, the Toronto Star reported.


On November 27, Quebec Judge Pierre Hamel ruled the children were in “extreme danger” and should be removed from their homes.


The sect fled the small resort town of Ste-Agathe-du-Mont, Quebec, just days before the hearing. The families currently remain intact in Chatham-Kent, Ontario, where the more than 200-strong group is renting properties while it looks to purchase.


Lev Tahor. Pure of Heart. Does the Name Helbrans Ring a Bell?


New Milford, NJ—If the name Shlomo Helbrans rings a bell with some JLBC readers, it should. He has lately been in the news because of his Lev Tahor cult—with its burqa-clad women and accusations of child abuse by the Canadian authorities in Quebec. This is not Helbrans’ first serious brush with the law. He gained his notoriety in Bergen County when he kidnapped a bar-mitzvah aged boy from his secular Israeli parents in New Milford in 1992. It was a sensational story and is one of the cases that Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes is alleged to have soft-pedaled. It also inspired a book published in 2001 called THE ZADDIK: The Battle for a Boy’s Soul by Elaine Grudin Denholtz.


‘Jewish Taliban’ Ordered to Return to Quebec



There is a small, tight-knit and strict community of Jews currently in Canada who call themselves “Lev Tahor,” which means “pure heart.” The group is also known by the nickname “the Jewish Taliban.”


This sect is considered an extremist group even by haredi standards. Probably a short hand way to explain that is the women members wear clothing that resemble burkas. The group has about 200 members. It is anti-Zionist and has been residing in Quebec, near Montreal, for the past ten years.


However, there have been difficulties between the Canadian authorities and the Lev Tahor sect, primarily over the issues of educating their youth. In addition, there are ongoing child welfare investigations prompted by outsiders or relatives of the sect members who allege the children don’t have proper hygiene, are neglected and suffer from psychological abuse. There are also rumors of forced marriages.


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