Jerusalem – Israeli Court To Rule On Legality of Ultra-Orthodox Cult ‘Lev Tahor’

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    The leader of the Lev Tahor community calls himself Shlomo Elbarnes. From Jerusalem's Kiryat Yovel neighborhood, this charismatic figure began forming extremist Orthodox groups in the United States some 20 years ago. His followers are said to heed his authority entirely.Jerusalem – In a precedent-setting move, an Israeli court is expected to decide next week whether it is legal to belong to the extreme ultra-Orthodox group Lev Tahor, known as “the Taliban sect.” A decision reached this week by a family court in Rishon Letzion indicates that a ruling on Lev Tahor’s legality is imminent.

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    The decision follows what appears to be the conclusion of an international family drama involving two sisters from Beit Shemesh who belong to the Taliban sect. The two were forcibly returned to Israel on Sunday under an order issued by the court. The sisters, 13 and 15, were en route to a Lev Tahor village located on the outskirts of Montreal, Canada.

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    27 Comments
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    12 years ago

    The government acted properly. If these girls were sent by their parents to live with a known child abuser, they would have been arrested and charged. This Lev Tahor cult has been denounced even by normal Chareidi rabbonim and askanim so the idea of parents sending their yinglach off to Canada to live with them is beyond belief. These children should be removed from the parents’ permanently and relocated with some Chareidi families who will care for them properly.

    heimish
    heimish
    12 years ago

    they use these young girls to marry them to 30 year old men, its a sick cult, and most of these marriages dont last for more than 10 years the most

    bookman
    bookman
    12 years ago

    Something feels very wrong about this lev tahor guy and his group. How many people’s lives will he destroy before he is stopped?

    12 years ago

    This guy is no different than Jim Jones and his cult. We are all supposed to brethren – the entire Klal. Somehow, I can’t think of this guy and his brainwashed followers as the same kind of Jew that I am. He has probably even taught his members about mass suicide if the authorities step in.

    concerned_Jew
    concerned_Jew
    12 years ago

    sick people come in all shapes, sizes, colors, religions. Watch out for your children! Gmar Chasima Tova to all!

    paltibenlayish
    paltibenlayish
    12 years ago

    This is a true cult and a dangerous one. It’s followers are poor souls who are manipulated by the “Lev tahor rebbe “.

    Misses
    Misses
    12 years ago

    Isn’t it called the holbruns or something like that?

    alter
    alter
    12 years ago

    Can anyone share some information where this cult is located and how they survive financialy?

    Secular
    Secular
    12 years ago

    This guy is a Megalomaniac.

    Look at his name ” El-bar-Ness”

    He preys on maladjusted ba’alei. Teshuva.

    Canadians…

    soxfan
    soxfan
    12 years ago

    Shlomo Helbrans had a yeshiva/shtible in BP on Dahill Rd. He was arrested for kidnapping and did prison time before being deported. Haven’t seen him in years but evidently he’s gotten crazier and more evil.

    paltibenlayish
    paltibenlayish
    12 years ago

    It was so sad at the time of his arrest to see the pidyon shevuyim letters. His arrest was itself pidyon shevuyim of the poor drugged and hypnotized people in his cult.

    ShatzMatz
    ShatzMatz
    12 years ago

    I remember a long time ago when this maniac was arrested and convicted of kidnapping. At that time the usual charachters held speeches in all the shuls that it was a “blood libel” and that it is a mitzva to help him. Massive funds were collected and instead of him doing 20 years in jail, they succeeded in having him serve a short sentence and then deported to Israel. Later it was revealed that he was indeed a low life and that he abused a teenage girl who was under his spell. He also playes sick games with the wives of his followers and took advantage of them. All the rabbonim who supported him then ended up with egg on their faces. You wont see any rabbunim coming out in support of him now. It should also be noted that his followers routinely use violence. One of them did hard time for cutting off the fingers of a parent who was trying to take their child out of the cult.

    He runs a sick demented cult in the backwaters Quebec Canada. It is only a matter of time before the story hits the news and it wont be pretty.

    I am just surprised that the rabbunim today didnt learn their lesson.

    basmelech
    basmelech
    12 years ago

    None of the above commentators know what they are talking about. I know the community well and they don’t abuse children. The people living there are all very happy. No one is forced to live there against their will. It is motsie shem ra to speak badly about someone especially if it is not even true. The Israeli government is against them because they are outspokenly against the frei Israeli government. They uphold the Shulchan Aruch and are very frum. That’s all. If it bothers people that they exist, maybe people should do some soul searching and see what middos they can improve on. They’re living far away from Eretz Yisroel, minding their own business, so if you have nothing to do with them, stay that way and keep your viscious mouths shut.

    monseyguy
    monseyguy
    12 years ago

    calling it a cult is an understatement for the cruelty that the girls and woman go thru there, the people living are not allowed to have contact with their outside family if the family doesn’t believe in the cult’s leader the leader himself is well fed and obese while everybody else there lives on rationed food the leader rips away children from their parents and parents from their children everything to serve his passion of control the biggest joke is that he was adopted by non religious Israelis and until today nobody even knows if he is a Jew or not, anybody interested about the danger of this cults should read the book titled ” Captive Soul “

    arnoldziffle
    arnoldziffle
    12 years ago

    As the Rov (Rav J. B. Soloveitchik) wrote, “Just as there is no morality without faith, there is no faith without morality…” Putting children in this situation is immoral! There has always been a tension between accepted morality and Halacha. Our Halachic arbiters have always had the ability to chart a course between the polar extremes that may arise from time to time. This cult is a polar extreme and deep inside we all know it.
    While these cults do not define Judaism and Halacha, they impact Judaism and Halacha and if allowed to stand will embolden others to push the boundaries of acceptable conduct as defined by both Halacha and morality. The Gedolim over the generations have given both, external laws and morality and the Kehilla a voice in shaping Halacha. “Dina de malchuta Dina” and Ein gozrim gezarah ela im ken rov hatzibur yachol lamod boh” are powerful reminders that there are external restraints to the application of both morality and Halacha. Even admitting their compliance with Halacha in a technical manner, the Piskei Halacha of this “Rabbi – Cult Leader” is within the geder of being unacceptable to most.

    CountryYossi
    CountryYossi
    12 years ago

    wow…it dosent sound on here that yom kipper is only 54 hours away….

    my4amos
    my4amos
    12 years ago

    I take no position on Lev Tahor; I don’t know enough about them. (I am aware this doesn’t stop many of the other posters, but that’s the nature of public forums such as this one.)

    But the dead giveaway of the anti-religious bigotry of this zionist rug is the end of the fourth paragraph of this article:

    “they (the girls) would be compelled to wed male members of the cult, which is an accepted practice among all young women in the group.”

    Couldn’t the same be said about every wife of every (married) reader/poster of VIN? Would any of our wives ever have considered marrying the non-frum? Certainly not! They all B”H married the male members of their cult.

    I am compelled to say “shame on zionists” but it became obvious to me many years ago that those deficient Jews are not capable of shame.

    SeenSoMuch
    SeenSoMuch
    12 years ago

    ShmuelIG-What if these girls prefer to marry a different chasid, or even a Litvak? Surely you know that halacha demands that no girl be forced/compelled to marry anyone, and if she wants to marry at 20 instead of 15, it is assur to force her. This forcing creates a breach with halacha and also forced marriage is illegal in most civilized countries. The government is correct in verifying if this group is classified as a cult, and if it is, the world should be warned. Hopefully the Canadian authorities will also investigate. What if your 15 year old sister or daughter was forced to marry a man she did not want to? The women on VIN married their husband at the age they wanted to and were given options. They can not be compared to the women in this group who are forcibly married to men at tender ages. Even our own Imahot in the Torah were asked if they wished to marry the avot!!! And these were holy tzaddikim! No parent forced them despite the high level of kedusha of the prospective av. The Torah uses many pesukim relating that Rivka agreed to go with Eliezer and waited until maturity to marry Yitzchok.