Several families from the Lev Tahor cult were detained by Guatemalan security officials at the airport on Wednesday, where they had arrived in an attempt to fly to Iran.
The Lev Tahor members claimed that they “are being persecuted” in Guatemala but Guatemalan security forces did not allow them to board the flight.
Sources tell YWN that the Lev Tahor members were planning on first flying to Kurdistan and from there to Iran. In fact, three Lev Tahor members are already in Kurdistan, where they’re waiting for the other members of the cult before continuing to Iran. The three Lev Tahor members in Kurdistan are Amram Moshe Yosef Rosner, Yoel Henoch Halbrens and Uriel Goldman.
This isn’t the first time that Lev Tahor members have tried to travel to Iran. As YWN previously reported, cult members previously sought “political asylum” in the Islamic Republic.
See the attached documents (below), where the cult “declared their loyalty and submission to the Supreme Leader and Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
There are currently multiple Lev Tahor cult leaders in Federal prison awaiting trials. Among them are Nachman Helbrans, 36; Mayer Rosner, 42, and his son Jacob Rosner, 20; Aron Rosner, 45, of Brooklyn, Mayer Rosner’s brother. A fifth man, Lev Tahor member Matityau Malka, and Mordechai Yoel Malka.
YWN has been at the forefront for more than 10 years fighting the Lev Tahor cult – with dozens of articles over the years. Violent beatings, abuse, rampant pedophelia were and are still common in the cult that currently remains in Guatemala.
They were facing various charges including kidnapping, identity theft, (use of fake passports) conspiracy to defraud the United States and international parental kidnapping. Four are being held without bond (due to flight risks). Aron Rosner was released on a $10 million bond to home confinement and electronic monitoring.
Former members of Lev Tahor (who either escaped or were otherwise expelled) do not recall learning Mishnayos or Gemara, nor any Mitzvos Bein Adam LeChaveiro. They spend the majority of the day in deep prayer and are only allowed to study certain sections of the Chumash, with Lev Tahor commentary.
Lev Tahor practices include women and girls wearing black head-to-toe coverings day and night, arranged marriages between teenagers, and a violent form of Malkos. Lev Tahor only permits certain fruits and vegetables to be eaten, as well as whole wheat flour made into bread with a stone press.
[LEV TAHOR HORROR: Tales of Beatings and Torture Emerge From Excommunicated Cult Members]
Reports indicate cult leaders have suggested death as better alternative than life outside the cult.
Lev Tahor was founded and led by Shlomo Helbrans, from the 1980s until his drowning death in Mexico in 2017. Since then, the leadership has moved into the hands of his son Nachman Helbrans, along with Mayer Rosner, Yankel and Yoel Weingarten, who are even more radical and aggressive than the late founder.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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26 Responses
I hope they get their way and make it to Iran. I’m sure they will be very happy there and I for one will be content that they are there. Adios. Bye. L’hitraot.
Iran has a beautiful mikveh. Why are we persecuting these yidden who want to live the way they want to. You can make a case against any community.
where are they getting money for tickets?
Waiting for Frankfurter of Ami magazine to do another whitewash for these monsters.
I for one would be delighted to have these maggots move to Iran, it’s exactly where they belong,and maybe take a long some of the Neturai Karta gangsters
Mister Ploni, I agree but only if the children are rescued first. Then they can go rot in Iran
as horrible as the whole situation is for these poor children ,on what grounds cant they fly out?
you are asking where they have money ? see this article from where the money is coming https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/2010297/2-bnei-brak-families-join-lev-tahor-cult-in-guatemala.html
There is no such country as Kurdistan. Kurdistan is a region that encompasses parts of Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria.
Rats:
It is not about “persecuting these yidden who want to live the way they want to.” It is that these are evil people, both bein odom laMakom and bein odom lachaveiroh. They have truncated the Torah to include only the mitzvos that meets the approval of humans. Feh! Phooey! Let no such movements ever exist. This is apikorsus. The Torah is clear that the mitzvos are not to be manipulated, added to or subtracted from. The movement that these wicked people have is NOT Yiddishkeit. Yes, we are all aware that many involved are victims. And we should help them ASAP. But the perpetrators deserve nothing but punishments. There are not enough tzuris that they deserve to suffer.
Their bein odom lachaveiroh is clearly awful. Beatings, pedophilia, etc. Nope. This movement is not a group of Yidden doing something their own way. It is a small group of evil fanatics who trash the Torah to customize it to feed their own disgusting passions. I hope they get locked up, separated from any potential victims, and get to stay that way for the rest of their lives.
P.S. Some people claim that they have collectors raising funds within our frum communities, under the guise of hachnosas kallah, and similar causes. This is a huge contamination here. If there is any merit to this, I would hope we can identify these rogues, and banish them from our community.
Iran is the perfect place for them, they are regular Talibans, they”ll fit right in.
EN:please do not swim in the river with the crocodile and or do not arrive snake environment wait for mosiach to arrive
FR:s’il vous plaît ne nagez pas dans la rivière avec le crocodile et ou n’arrivez pas environnement serpent attendez que le messie arrive
ESP:por favor no nade en el río con el cocodrilo y / o no llegue ambiente de serpientes espere a que llegue el mesías
The men should go to Iran if they want but not the women or children.
Leiby Wasser:
Please don’t attack the people of Kurdistan. Just because USA doesn’t recognize it doesn’t make it not a state. The people of Kurdistan have an ethnic group for millennia, way before most other people in the region.
To: The little I know
Thank you for your comment. I think you are right.
You can make a case against any group. Kids are in Yeshiva 12 hour days. Getting married meeting girl one time. Little kids subjected to mikveh with adult men. Putting new born babies in closet draws. Women subjected to shaven heads. Is that Torah. But you see lev Tahor group as evil. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones
commonsaychel:
“Ah, wasn’t it “former” Lev Tahor members who “tried” kidnapped a Israeli-US backpacker ,close by San José Pinula, Guatemala for extortion of money before Succot?! 3000 Dollar they want from his family, because they run out money.”
Most likely were the money comes from……
This sick pedophile pigs! I hope they put them into the prison with same “nice” guys and never let them out.
This people is mentally complete retarded and without any brain. Abusing a religion for their sickness. Kidnapping another Jews and Kids, this is so disgusting….
I can’t imagen that these are real born Jews, most of Jewish in Guatemala looking like Indians with black kippot living in the jungle? Some of them were in Lakewood a few weeks ago…. asking hard working people for money because they think, they are to “holy” (weak) to work!!??
Unfortunately, Guatemala is the Jewish Afghanistan…. ! And this just because of these people…..
Kurdistan is not a country, but a region divided by other countries (although it should be).
Saying that they flew to Kurdistan is therefore meaningless as a fact.
This is all based on hearsay no one knows if all these exaggerations about the cult is true.
This is total hatred of a fellow Jew
It is gossip and slander.
You should be sued for this.
It is misira and rishis
Gossip
Wicked slander
Rats:
Point by point rebuttal. You need serious help.
Kids are in Yeshiva 12 hour days. Yes, they are. I disagree with the length of school hours. But if there was continuity with home activity, we might be okay. There isn’t. Kids tend to come home and relax and play. Some of that is good. Some is not. I agree we need a better system for our education.
Getting married meeting girl one time. That is an exception. And just how much of the judgment of these 19-20 year olds is mature enough to make life decisions? We truly don’t know that much more from 8-9 dates. Ask therapists who do marriage counseling. Are there fewer problems ini couples who dated for longer? Studies do not reflect any benefits for happiness in marriage or for longevity of marriage by dating more.
Little kids subjected to mikveh with adult men. Oh, you’re trying that one again? There have certainly been cases of pedophiles in mikvaos. I am privy to a few such cases. But to draw a broad brush on that is inaccurate, and most likely malicious.
Putting new born babies in closet draws. You’re misrepresenting something, and lodging it as a complaint. I know the minhag and its origin. Yes, it’s bizarre. Just a few generations ago, there were no cribs. So mothers used whatever they had that would be convenient to place an infant. Large mixing bowls, drawers, etc. were all options, depending on what the parents had. No one closed a drawer with a baby in it. And I doubt it happens today.
Women subjected to shaven heads. Married women must cover their heads anyways. Some shave, some don’t. To be obssessed about it is problematic. I do not know of too many situations where women do it against their husbands’ wishes, and this being a problem in their relationships. Again, it is a minhag, and the subject gets discussed prior to the shidduch and resolved. Why are you busy with this?
Is that Torah. No, it’s menchlichkeit. And discussions about various other minhagim that may differ betweem mechutanim also get resolved. They are points of conflict only for conflictual people. I never forced my minhagim on my sons in law or daughters in law. I get along great B”H with all my mechutanim, even though there are minhag differences.
But you see lev Tahor group as evil. Yes, I do. I see their religion as not Judaism at all. You cannot call a trimmed, customized version of Torah Yiddishkeit. You cannot call it ratzon Hashem. You cannot call their crazy restrictions, beatings, etc. menchlichkeit. They are evil on all counts, and their leaders deserve to be locked away for life. Their victims need to be rescued and exposed to real Torah.
People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. My home is made of brick, wood, metal beams, and lots of sheet rock. No glass. How about yours? What is your claim to draw any parallels between Lev Tahor and Torah?
Stop hating, stop judging, you know nothing, nil.
#The little I know, I agree with you 100%!!
I cannot understand this original Helbrans leader. Must have had some severe pathology going on in his head…
What a sicko!!
To little I know.
Rebuttal
What does lev Tahor do different than any other Chassidic group. The women’s faces are not covered despite people mixing up the Taliban ladies from meah shearim area who do cover their faces. The lev Tahor has good eating habits and don’t eat the junk and cholesterol sugar salt laden cakes like so many heimisha do. I am not Chassidic but I am heimish. I began reading about this group many decades ago. They are into outreach. Every group makes mistakes. I can list tons of mistakes in every single group. But to gang up on this small group of yidden is wrong.
KURDISTAN’s capital is Ebril ! They have there own army, government and so on…. Its de facto a state. Just because the US said they don’t recognized it, it not means that it isn’t a state!!! Anyway, the US isn’t that successful in this region… so why they should decide if its a country or not??
Many Jews coming from KURDISTAN!!!!!
Mostly they living Jerusalem.
Almost all the Shuk in Jerusalem is run by Jews from Kurdistan.
Many police officers in Jerusalem are Jewish Kurdish.
They have their own hagim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a10HQocVrIA
This pedophiles would bring a lot shame to this country! They have nothing to search there.
Point by point
“What does lev Tahor do different than any other Chassidic group.”
They edit the Torah, creating their own mitzvos and trashing others. Torah itself forbids this.
“The women’s faces are not covered despite people mixing up the Taliban ladies from meah shearim area who do cover their faces.”
I do not pay attention to women’s clothing. Why do they dress in ways to attract attention? Who wrote the “halachos” for attire that they follow? Our Shulchan Aruch did not say any of this.
“The lev Tahor has good eating habits and don’t eat the junk and cholesterol sugar salt laden cakes like so many heimisha do. ”
What about normal food? Stop your nonsense. There are plenty of ways of ramping up the health of your diet without getting crazy. And there is no Torah source for their diet.
“I am not Chassidic but I am heimish. ”
Wonderful. Who cares? I am not interested an iota in your own lifestyle. The article was of a cult that is anti-Torah, but claims otherwise. This is not only fraudulent, but missionary in nature.
“I began reading about this group many decades ago.”
And what attracted you to it? What tricked you into believing that this group had any legitimacy?
“They are into outreach.”
Now we’re in trouble. They actually work to convince others of their anti-Torah positions? We have a parsha in the Torah about מסית ומדיח. We are watching it.
“Every group makes mistakes. I can list tons of mistakes in every single group. But to gang up on this small group of yidden is wrong.”
Here’s your fundamental error. This is not a mistake. It is done with wanton intent to make their truncated version of Torah into the real thing. Our Torah is a תורת אמת. The movement they push is not anything of the sort. It is כולו שקר, and has been an eyesore to the Torah world since it became known that it existed. It is a disgrace in its very essence. And I repeat myself, but not for naught. I pray daily that the victims get rescued, and will get the help they need to detox from the evil they were fed for so long. Deprogramming and therapy for starters. I pray that the leaders get eliminated from among us. Whether by looking up at 6 feet of dirt or by imprisonment, I don’t really care. The cancer they represent must be eradicated completely. We need to stop using our intellect and ability to speak to defend these disgusting בעלי עבירה. May Hashem protect us all.