Nachman Helbrans
An investigation by Canadian authorities into an isolated
Jewish sect has led to renewed calls for action in Israel.
Authorities in Quebec have leveled allegations of child
abuse and neglect against multiple families in the Lev Tahor sect. In response,
200 of the 240 people living in the sect moved suddenly to Ontario. A Quebec
judge has ordered them to return.
Nachman Helbrans, son of the community’s leader Shlomo
Helbrans, told the Canadian paper The Star that two families facing charges
would return to Quebec. The rest of the families apparently plan to stay in
Ontario in order to avoid educational requirements in the Quebec district,
where children are expected to learn secular subjects.
According to Canadian media, one of the charges against the
families was that their children – who are homeschooled - did not know basic
math, and in several cases, could not speak either English or French. The group
teaches children in Yiddish (a European Jewish dialect), and restricts
education for girls to domestic tasks such as sewing and cooking.
Child protection officials also leveled serious accusations
that included extremely poor hygiene in homes, substandard healthcare, and
cases in which children were forcibly removed from their homes and placed with
other families.
Beatings, child marriage, and 'reeducation'
In a meeting Tuesday of the Knesset’s Rights of the Child
Committee, relatives of Israeli Jews who have moved to Canada to join the cult
revealed additional serious charges, including serious physical abuse against
children, a bizarre ideology that rejects parental affection, deliberate child
neglect, underage marriage, and harsh punishment of adults who question
Helbrans’ leadership.
MKs said Israel must get involved, as most of those involved
are Israeli citizens who left or fled the country in order to live by
Helbrans’s rules. “We have a responsibility and an obligation to Israeli
children,” declared committee head MK Orly Levi-Abekasis (Likud).
She accused state prosecutors of “dragging their feet” and
“failing to initiate cooperation with social services” regarding the case.
MK Yaakov Margi of the hareidi-religious Shas party
testified that among the strict rules observed by Lev Tahor members is a
prohibition against changing diapers more than twice a day. “It’s a sadistic
cult,” he declared.
Esther Katzovshvili, whose daughter and grandchildren live
with Lev Tahor, termed Helbrans a “criminal.” The families in Lev Tahor “are
kept under control through ostracizing, fasts, ritual immersion in freezing
water, rape of underage girls by adult men, and beatings,” she said.
“They see demonstrating affection for children as a
non-Jewish invention,” she charged.
Tzofia Nahon, who has worked with families that have left
Lev Tahor, reported, “The community has a group called ‘Family Aid’ that takes
children from families whose faith in the leader has been shaken and gives them
to other families for reeducation for about two years.”
Orit Cohen, whose brother belongs to Lev Tahor, backed
Nahon’s report, and in addition, testified to beatings and imprisonment within
the cult, as well as cases in which parents pressured underage girls into
marriage and forced children to take psychological drugs.
When one of the leader’s sons rebelled by allowing his
children to listen to music, she said, his children were taken for
“reeducation” and he was beaten so badly he suffered broken bones.
Prosecutors: Hard to make a case
Motti Levy of the Jerusalem Police confirmed that there is
evidence confirming the charges and indicating very serious crimes. However,
attorney Galit Greenberg of the Justice Ministry said it would be hard to make
a case. “There’s an inherent difficulty gathering evidence against a cult. Even
[the members] themselves don’t complain when their children are kidnapped from
them,” she noted.
Israel is working with Canadian authorities to address the
issue, she said.
Lev Tahor charges 'persecution'
A representative from Lev Tahor was at the meeting as well.
He denied the charges.
“The children in the community are calm and happy, and there
is no psychological treatment,” he said. “It’s true that social workers took
five children from the community, but that is because the father – who is separated
from the mother – hit them.”
There was one case in which a 16-year-old girl married, he
said, but there were no other marriages between underage teen girls and older
men. “Israel is persecuting Rabbi Helbrans because of his opinions,” he
concluded.
No comments:
Post a Comment