GUATEMALA
Jewish Voice
Written by David Avrushmi – Created: 21 September 2016
After fleeing Israel, the United States and Canada, a Chassidic sect known as Lev Tahor is now facing a government crackdown in their new found home of Guatemala City.
Agents representing the central American country’s prosecution service paid an unexpected visit to the Lev Tahor compound last week and extricated several children on the grounds that they were both physically and mentally abused, according to reports that could not be confirmed.
It has been reported that Guidy Mamann, the attorney representing the ultra-Orthodox sect had traveled to Guatemala on Wednesday to handle the latest legal entanglement.
The Lev Tahor sect of Chassidim was founded approximately 36 years by Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, considered by many to be a dissident rabbinical figure. He had initially led his acolytes while they were based in Israel. Due to a series of controversies that dogged the group, Helbrans and his followers left for the United States. But trouble seemed to follow Lev Tahor and from there they sojourned to Canada where charges were leveled against them of child abuse and neglect. In search of a country that would not shine a spotlight on their unorthodox practices, Lev Tahor eventually chose Guatemala as a place of settlement.
Representatives of child welfare agencies along with erstwhile sect members in both the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec have made allegations that Lev Tahor encourages child marriage. Moreover, the group has been alleged to have maintained inadequate health and hygiene standards within their compound. The group vehemently denies the charges.
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