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Jewish group Lev Tahor expelled from Guatemala sanctuary


After fleeing Canada amid allegations of child abuse, about 230 members of the ultraorthodox Jewish group Lev Tahor have now been expelled from the Guatemalan village where they had reassembled their reclusive community.


An edict from a group of indigenous elders in the town of San Juan La Laguna, 150 kilometres west of Guatemala City, said that the Lev Tahor members were no longer welcome in the lakeside town.



Photo by Rick Madonick, Toronto Star

Expelled from Sololá, Jews take refuge near the Terminal


Some 300 Orthodox Jews from the Lev Tahor community have moved to Guatemala City, after being expelled from San Juan La Laguna.


The families have temporarily settled in a building in the neighborhood of Mercado La Terminal , where they arrived carrying their things in suitcases, bags and boxes.




Photo by Deccio Serrano/Soy502

Rabbi of the Pure Hearts : Inside Lev Tahor - the fifth estate


Life in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community of Lev Tahor is supposed to be simple: the rules for dress, diet, schooling, marriage and worship are clearly defined and closely followed. But last November, in the middle of the night, about 200 members of the sect fled their homes in Quebec to start a new community in Chatham, Ontario, amid allegations of child neglect. Now the sect is fighting to keep more than a dozen children that a Quebec court ordered removed from their families. Recently released search warrants show Quebec provincial police have been investigating allegations of unlawful confinement and physical abuse of children within the sect, as well as marriage of underage girls to much older men.

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