Lev Tahor: Origins, Customs & Colombia Settlement Plan

His particular clothing, in which Women cover themselves from head to toe with a type of burqa or black tunic –which is why the Jewish Taliban also call them– and the men wear heavy black jackets, fur hats shtreimel and they have long beards -they can’t shave it- is the first reflection of the strict customs of the Lev Tahor sect, which was little talked about in Colombia, but since this weekend it set off alarms regarding a possible settlement of its community in the country.

And last Saturday, in a joint operation between different agencies and entities, the authorities found the whereabouts of nine adults and 17 minors who apparently were part of this sect and who had among their plans to settle in the municipality of Yarumal, in the North of Antioquia.

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The 26 people They had entered the country more than a month ago, between October 22 and 23, in two groups from New York (USA). and when they passed the Colombian Immigration filters at the Rafael Núñez airport in Cartagena, and José María Córdoba airport in Rionegro, No suspicions aroused, since they were all parents traveling with their children.

However, the sect to which they belong, Lev Tahor, faces dozens of complaints in several countries for human trafficking, sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation, child pornography, enslaving treatment, forced marriage between minors and forced pregnancy. For this reason, an uncle of one of the minors who entered the country with his parents, issued the alert.

The man, who won custody of the minor before the US authorities, He activated the yellow Interpol circular and with it, the Colombian authorities managed to find his whereabouts and that of 16 other minors in a hotel in Yarumal.

The children, between 3 and 16 years old, were transferred to the Migration Services Facilitation Center of Medellín and will be under the protection of the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare, ICBF, for the restoration of their rights, while adults face expulsion from the country.

But what is known about the sect Lev Tahor? This sect was founded in Jerusalem in the 1980s by Rabbi Shlomo Helbranswho after teaching about Hasidic Judaism – a religious and spiritual movement within Orthodox Judaism – He decided to found a sect under this name that he took from a psalm. Its meaning is “pure heart.”

True to his belief that Jews should not inhabit Israel until the arrival of the Messiah, Helbrans moved the group to New York, where the largest number of members of this ultra-Orthodox community are located. It is estimated that the members of the sect do not exceed 500 people.

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According to a review of Los Angeles Times, Helbrans opened a school in Brooklyn to impart his Lev Tahor ideas, but quickly ran into trouble after The family of a 13-year-old student will report his disappearance and accuse him of “brainwashing” him.

The minor reappeared two years later, claiming that he had abandoned his family by his own decision, but In 1994 Helbrans was convicted of kidnapping and served two years in prison before being deported to Israel.

Shortly after He obtained asylum in Canada alleging that he had been a victim of persecution in Israel for their religious opposition to the country’s existence as a Jewish State. Since then his community has been wandering, although it has always had a fixed base in New York.

The United States, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala and now Colombia, have been the countries in which the sect has sought to establish itself, especially in remote rural areas, But the number of complaints about kidnappings, abuses, forced marriages and other humiliations against minors has caused the authorities to persecute, detain and expel them.

The members of Lev Tahor They practice many of the customs of Hasidism, but in their application they are very strict.

As already said, The women wear a black tunic that covers them from head to toe, only their faces can be seen. The men, for their part, also dress in black, with long, wide jackets, cover their heads with fur hats and never shave their beards.

Your dietaccording to the BBC, It is based on the laws of kashrut, the set of biblical norms that establish What are the suitable foods (kosher) that practitioners of Judaism can ingest. But in this they also go to the extreme.

They do not eat chicken or eggs, considering that they have been genetically manipulated, but they do consume geese and their eggs. They also do not eat rice, green onions or leafy vegetables, for fear of insects. In the case of other vegetables and fruits, always remove the skin before consuming them.

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They only drink milk from cows that they can milk themselves and make their own wine.

Children, for their part, cannot eat sweets that have been bought in a store. They can only eat homemade desserts or fruits, nuts and seeds.

Their language was Yiddish, they did not learn English, although this changed over time.

Children were taught to look at the ground while walking on the street to avoid seeing non-Jewish neighbors or temptations. Boys and girls studied in separate schools. y, Unlike other practitioners of Hasidism who connect with God through joyful expressions such as dance and music, The members of Lev Tahor lived soberly. They are even advised not to laugh.

Marriage among its practitioners arrives in mid-adolescence and that is when the extremism in which they live leads to alleged abuses. who, in general, excuse themselves with the idea of multiplying their community.

Although their customs are questionable, Members of the sect consider themselves to live within the boundaries of Jewish religious tradition and norms.

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