Guatemalan Police Raid Lev Tahor Sect, Remove 160 Minors

Photo Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Eliezer Rumpler of the Lev Tahor Jewish sect arrives at the Jerusalem District Court for a hearing on May 26, 2020.

Guatemalan police last Friday removed 160 children and adolescents from the Jewish sect Lev Tahor in the country’s southeastern region, following serious allegations of child abuse, including rape, prosecutors said.

BREAKING: Jewish compound raided. 160x children were rescued. After several complaints, the authorities managed to rescue 160 minors from the Orthodox Jewish sect Lev Tahor. @realstewpeters https://t.co/L53GpkxEqT

— RyanMatta ?? ? (@RyanMattaMedia) December 21, 2024

Lev Tahor (Heb. pure heart) is an extremist Jewish sect founded in 1988 in Israel by the late Shlomo Helbrans. Often described as a cult, the group comprises approximately 200 to 300 members and practices an extremist interpretation of Jewish law. Its practices include prolonged prayer sessions, arranged marriages between teenagers, and strict dress codes requiring women and girls—starting as young as three years old—to wear head-to-toe black coverings.

The sect has faced repeated allegations of child abuse, sexual abuse, and kidnapping, with several members charged and convicted of related offenses.

Over the years, Lev Tahor has led a nomadic existence, frequently relocating to evade scrutiny from child welfare authorities. The group has moved from Israel (1988–1990) to the United States (1990–2000), back to Israel (2000–2003), then Canada (2003–2013), and subsequently Guatemala (2013). Around 2017, they migrated to Mexico, followed by brief stays in Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina in late 2021, and North Macedonia in early 2022. Their movements are often marked by attempts to avoid legal oversight and intervention by local governments.

NEWS: The scene where 160 children were rescued following a raid on the Lev Tahor Jewish group in Guatemala.

The children allegedly endured rape and torture. The bones of children were found at the location.

Members of Lev Tahor shown in video.

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THE RAID AND THE CLASHES

The raid that was conducted in the agricultural municipality of Oratorio, some 48 miles southeast of Guatemala City, underscores persistent concerns surrounding the controversial practices of the Lev Tahor sect. Nancy Paiz, a prosecutor at Guatemala’s Prosecutor’s Office Against Human Trafficking, told a press conference:

“Based on the statements of the complainants, the evidence obtained, and the medical examinations, it was possible to establish that there are forms of human trafficking against these minors, such as forced marriage, abuse, and related crimes.”

The minors are now under government protection as authorities continue their investigations into the allegations against the Lev Tahor sect.

The Jewish Community of Guatemala issued a statement saying the sect was foreign to it and expressed support for Guatemalan authorities’ actions “to protect the lives and integrity of minors and other vulnerable groups that may be at risk.”

Guatemala’s Jews called on the “government and diplomatic corps of countries from whose nationalities make up members of Lev Tahor, to join forces to protect those whose rights may be violated.”

On Sunday evening, approximately 100 relatives of children belonging to Lev Tahor assembled outside a care center in Guatemala City, where the minors had been placed under protective custody. The group demanded the immediate return of their children.

According to a statement from the Attorney General’s Office, around 4:30 PM local time, sect members forcibly breached the center’s gates and seized the children and adolescents housed inside.

As authorities attempted to intervene and recover the minors, clashes erupted between the police and members of the sect. An AFP photographer reported brief but intense scuffles as tensions escalated outside the shelter.

With police assistance, the center “managed to locate and protect everyone again,” the Attorney General’s Office reported. However, the Secretariat of Social Welfare of the Presidency later clarified that some individuals had “evaded” authorities, prompting the activation of a search alert.

“We want them to let the children out of here,” Uriel Goldman, a representative of the families, told AFP outside the center before the attempted recapture of the minors.