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Lev Tahor Documentary Part I with English subtitles


Amnon Levi interviews Aryeh Laver, a 21-year-old Israeli whose mother joined the extreme Jewish group, Lev Tahor, then living in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec, Canada. According to accounts of former members, the group practices underage marriage, corporal punishment, semi-starvation, and mind control with psychiatric medication. The show aired in November, 2012.


Since the show aired, five children of an ex-member have been removed. On November 27, 2013, Montreal judge Pierre Hamel ruled that 14 additional children should also be removed. In advance of the ruling, the group moved to Chatham-Kent, Ontario, claiming that they were being forced to teach subjects that conflict with their religious beliefs. Ontario has not upheld the Quebec ruling but a hearing is scheduled for January 10, 2014

Child abuse allegations are lies, ‘Taliban-style’ Hasidic sect insists


The timing for the hasty flight, days before the child welfare hearing where a Quebec judge ordered the removal of 14 children to foster care, has generated speculation the sect was aware of the impending judgment. The group has since defied the foster care order and a hearing is set for December 23 to decide jurisdiction now that the children are in Ontario.


Two additional children, whose identities are protected by the Canadian Child and Welfare Services Act, were removed earlier this week, though quickly reunited with their families under terms that include mental health treatment for the parents, reports the Toronto Star.


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.


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