I Grew up in the Extremist Jewish Cult of Lev Tahor | The Story of Mendy Levy

hi my name is mandy levy i escaped leftahar this is me just over three years ago and these are some of the leaders in leftahar right now if everything is perfect something is wrong [Music] we are very happy to see that you are really interesting to get to the bottom to the truth because we want people to know the truth left heart is a cult that is based on three things anger sadness and pain that's what love to her is also called this word everybody has their kind of call this is what we also have this this amount of culture someone do not want to live in the community we're gonna be more than happy to help them to live no right now if someone wants to get out of the left a heart you just can't everything is locked my father always had a thought maybe he wants to leave the community and he already told my mom i already hear this once um but yeah i loved my father the main reason how my father ended up dying in the cold was because left to heart doesn't let anybody go to any doctor without permission i didn't know that there's a crime where there's abuse if we don't pay for persons hospital yeah he could have been alive if they would have let him go before to the doctor for sure since my father died they basically took away all my brothers from the house with fours from my mother they said okay so now you don't have a they don't have a father who's going to give them who's going to take care of them in more like of a in a religious way um so they said they have to place them in different houses like in the leaders houses stuff like that not to compromise my well-being and and and the and the and the feeling of the children i really wanted to see my mother and every time i went to see my mother i just got hit from weingarten and stuff like terribly like like in front of my mom's house she had to hear me crying that i just want to come see her every time i look back today it's very like it's very painful back and i don't know why they did it because we really want to have to have good for our kids and the best for our kids and we think there is no way in our generation without young a relationship in our community they get them a troll because this is the education this is the this is the the the people who live so the main reason why i decided to leave and i said enough is enough was because they tried to force me to get married to a 12 year old girl that was my first cousin and i didn't want the [ __ ] that i want it's the fourth clearance i was involved and people teachers are involved they're gonna always gonna find the best solution he he made us cry in the room like just i have to say that i want you know when they said young marriages when i didn't remember the camera like the congress was 16 17 which is okay completely with the legal system my husband was 16 or something when we got married we made a little marriage license every day and we waited until i was until she was before 16 and we waited this should be 16. so it depends like now at this time we do whatever we feel we need to do at this point if we see if we see the story that we have to marry at them we'll tell you when you can but it's not according to it my wife was 16 years old when i married legally in new york and now 28 years later on i can't imagine better life [Music] the way leftover found a place in guatemala is they didn't like bought a property or something it looks like a big forest they took a tractor they literally cut off all the trees moved the rocks and stuff and they started building tents so it's basically wood and plastic and the roof is a little metal you know like a little aluminium the lucky ones had shipping containers which is more you know it's easier it's better no air conditioning besides robbie has air conditioning this container and he has a house to a nice very nice house they had a lot of problems in the beginning he had snakes animals around like a lot of spiders like dangerous ones because it was a big forest and guatemala is a hot country you know babies play on the ground most of the kids were like just crocs they don't have shoes from three years old you have to already have all this black clothing it's called mishpath [Music] the abraham wrote a book of 300 to 400 pages regarding the levus and he wrote about that just about the face covering about 50 pages we want to cover the face because we're going from the stairs inside the baby all the day up and down and we all the time and then we try to investigate if it was a real way to do it or not we don't the charlotte sugar yes so they for example they put in the hands before they put a cake to put like a piece of plastic like this so it shouldn't see the shape of the heads so for this strange stuff i mean any abuse possible was happening there any abuse whatever you could imagine things they would everything that would happen there yes everything you could think of the provincial human rights commission has released its report into the handling of the children from lev to [ __ ] it says youth protection officials took too long to intervene an investigation in 2013 led to allegations of neglect and child abuse the political authorities in quebec city will make sure that the system is going to change and that sort of situation will not happen again if we if we if we thought that our pretoria we have to give today marcus we'll tell you we have to give marcus but we don't think epithelia doesn't so they can get marcus so marcus you could get any timer left or if the rabbit decides right now to give you mulcause he would give you malkas just by mouth because um because we give everyday about this you know that's just just right just try ask everybody if you receive one's marketing do a strip search if you hunt on everybody they would just put me on a table with a building like akaze [Music] sexual abuse is mostly with the rabbi with the main rabbi was happening he was doing your physical stuff with boys mostly maybe with the girls too but i for sure enough with boys talking about the robber if left the heart was literally having kids sleeping with him in his bed and that would never be forgotten [Music] you know how to convince that you have to do it for your thicken he literally said you have to come sleep whatever whatever we told this to it's because for it's very thicken that's what he said i thicken they didn't punish they gave chicken my chicken was usually malcus malcus i would get a lot from the another's wife shiful goldman or from gitel mindle rosner the last time i got marcus was with goldman i had to go get the belt and tell the principal that i wanted marcus i said i believe that irishtone knows that the patch i am receiving will clean my new schumer and like always i had to take off my clothes they would tie me up with a gutter lay me down in front of the whole school and i got lashes on the back many times really the bc is worse than the malcus [Music] if you cried you got extra lashes because you have to do chiva out of love and you're not allowed to cry after i had to kiss her hand afterwards and then she gave me some mister for like 20 minutes and sometimes i would have to say it hold him every day was just getting hit punishing torturing i couldn't i didn't want to experience it every day again i just wanted to not see myself again and not feel any of this actions and feelings so i decided i want to kill myself i tried drinking bleach so what i did is i put a bunch of sugar and i try to drink it i should just try to find myself out of the world i couldn't experience leftover anymore it was just i couldn't i couldn't take it i couldn't see my myself again in the morning like that i have to take a break mindy was not alone someone else was desperate to get out in november 2018 sarah figa teller the daughter of lev tahar's founder managed to escape to the u.s with her small children she said that her brother nachman hellbrains who inherited the leadership was more extreme than her father and she deemed the group not safe to keep her children there the rabbi's younger son took over and he became way worse than the first one like the old rabbi wouldn't uh marry of 12 year old girls that wouldn't happen at that time but the new rabbi that took over he was marrying off 12 year old girls forcibly insecure and desperate for power nachman hillbrands enacted new restrictions and customs with harsh consequences for disobeying or questioning his new rules something that could happen to me the rabbi would tell you don't talk for anyone to anyone for one year like you literally started doing these things he could tell you you know because you didn't follow this you're being taken away from your house you have to come stay in trouble for one two weeks depends on what we did you know his enforcers are a group called the hanhala led by three winegarden brothers and their sister two weeks after the founding leader died nachman hellbrands insisted his sister a 24 year old mother of four eat bread that contained sesame a food she was known to be allergic to she was afraid to disobey the new leader after an immediate allergic reaction she died her brother blamed the death on her lack of faith in him as the new ribba he did not respond well to his other sister sarah faga escaping love tahar according to the u.s justice department nachman hill brands directed the han hala to successfully kidnap two of his sister's children from within the u.s attempting to bring them to guatemala he is two children yes the fourth year the 16 year old yes correct three weeks after the kidnapping their plan was foiled when they were caught in mexico with the two children one was a boy age 12 the other a girl age 14 while in mexico they reunited the young girl with her 20 year old husband their marriage had been pre-arranged by nachman hillbrands two years prior when the girl was 12 and her husband was 18. she was married yes she was married in guatemalan and because he wanted to return her to her father and save it from abuse which we had proved that she was abusing the united states it's called transporting a minor for illegal sexual action according to the fbi after the kidnapping there were two other known attempts at kidnapping the children they charged nachman hell brands and members of the han hala for the brazen kidnapping and subsequent attempted kidnappings like this stuck indictment that but let me tell you something again it's not the lie and it is live but i mean we don't have a problem to go take this girl you know why because it's legal she's 16 years old but we never tried we never tried to help the seven year old or ten year old because we never get from them and call for help let's say even yes it's also legal because it says clearly in the law of the of the federal government that if the start is abused you may take the child even if it's working the hanhala members charged in this multi-country operation include nachman hellbrands yaakov weingarten detained in guatemala march 2021 smail and the oil wine garden arrested july 2021 mayor rosner yaakov rosner aaron rosner matus yahoo mosha mulka mordechai maulka the husband of this winegarden sister all arrested in the u.s with most of the leadership detained the weingarten sister is the current head of han hala all three of her brothers are awaiting extradition to the united states right here because if he is [Music] [Music] [Music] because it comes out the presenters for example the new charge they presented they quoted the guatemalan law regarding regarding assaults yes but this law that they call it it's not valid because it was overwritten 10 years ago so this title this this title is not any more valid than the new title according to new titles there's no crime because the new title states 14 years and the old title was saying 16 years so she was 14 years at this time so according to the new title of 12 years ago it's like an adult and she's an adult according to guatemala according to this chart so they made a big mistake so far in the united states not such a big problem wanted to write someone and say and say essay and say a quota expired but when you come to extradition and you and you bring laws that is not balanced the other country will not give a lot we're not giving a lot we came here to save hashem and that's what our purpose so people say that too much is too much you have to be normal normal to be like a lot of goemon anyone not following the laws the way they see it is considered a [ __ ] a gentile honestly he's now a god he's not keeping an entire method yaakov weingarten said it's commanded to be a martyr rather than live as a gentile [Music] the procedure will be the stuff as follows he says when they come we order men and we go down down to talk to them and meanwhile all the women run up here and each mother take the children and as as the shakita is made take a knife and cut take a knife take a knife and go with the with them and they say that and close the eyes of the children and cut and if you have because you have many children then you start with the small ones so the big ones can understand what you're saying and you as mothers start saying that it's uh very painful what you're going to do but it's necessary because the ones that were coming are you coming to to take the children away and better the children died better have children death than living with the boy he said that there was that will be taken in account like the or a pure corbin [Music] so then we got scared really scared [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] if there's anyone who's funding for left heart who is helping left or financially should know they're giving money to abuse people to torture people absolutely we just raised i told you four hundred thousand dollars for us is that a very very big amount now other people who live in new york in europe in israel they sent and we told him where to send it a person very very known person in the sanctuary community gave us sixty thousand dollars [Music] if you don't know what was some place that she's locked up she's sexually assaulted she and she cries and i could prove it to you enough if we didn't have the proof of that we also never did [Music] you're gonna be able to talk to her i have to make sure that doesn't sit beyond her and tell them if you're gonna say one word about that i want to explain what's going to happen they told them already you are putting people in jail when you crying to them for help you putting people in jail it's your responsibility wow so be quiet it's gonna be a question that she gonna have confidence to answer she's gonna know is she not gonna be afraid to say yes or no i don't know how you can make sure that it's gonna be um free of influence any information that i was showing today had nothing to do with orthodox it's only left heart talking about 60 families a couple hundred people the people inside are good people innocent people but i'm mainly talking about the leaders who are brainwashing them and are abusing them the people are just brainwashed and that's it today thank you so much if we are bad people not just don't have to support us you have to put the people in the right place if it's prison it's we prison very straight we appreciate that [Music] i i think you should have more videos why because you have should have been if it's a bad place hashem has has its way how to fix stuff okay okay you are invited you're in a very good mood so if it seems from you that brother goes and my brother asking you for help to keep them [Music] [Music] the pro-israelis and i can prove it to you when they were traveling from canada to guatemala the first time i saw other people first time i saw a different world so i started thinking i'm mendy's older brother and we escaped like almost at the same time basically not anti-zionism they just pro themselves i mean they'll say everything to everyone whatever they need something from you so they'll say they need something from israelis there's so they'll be pro-israelis they need something from iran so they'll be anti-zionism they want something from jews so oh you're jewish and whatever and behind you they'll say that you're not jewish and no one is jewish except them even satmar even the torah karate even breast lift they think and they teach you that they are the only jews and there's no more jews outside will come just to them and everything is just related to them you

Channel: shiezoli

Views: 6,268,499

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Id: m95BTIEpvOc

Length: 21min 45sec (1305 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 23 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Jacinda-Muldoon]

SS: More information about the group:

Wikipedia:

Lev Tahor (Hebrew: לֵב טָהוֹר, lit. "pure heart") is an extremist religious group founded by Shlomo Helbrans in 1988. Often described as a cult, it consists of about 200–300 members. The group follows a fundamentalist form of Jewish practice and adheres to its own atypical interpretations of Jewish law, including practices such as lengthy prayer sessions, arranged marriages between teenagers, and head-to-toe black coverings for girls and women beginning at the age of three. The group has faced allegations of kidnapping, sexual abuse, and child abuse.

The group has moved frequently, being located in Israel from 1988 to 1990 (and again from 2000 to 2003), the United States from 1990 to 2000, Canada from 2003 to 2014, Guatemala in 2014, Mexico since around 2017, and Romania since late 2021. They often move in an attempt to flee government child welfare agencies. [Cont...]

The documentary was pretty dark - the group featured nearly all of Steve Hassan's B.I.T.E. requirements of authoritarian control.

I felt sorry for the children being brought up under such conditions; it's difficult to know how people can recover from such abuse.

The people who supported Lev Tahor financially probably had no idea what was really going on. Religious piety is normally framed as a good thing within the wider faith community; as this documentary shows, it isn't always the case. Jim Jones, for example, got plenty of support for the work he was doing in the community long after it was clear he had become completely unhinged.

I was vaguely aware of Lev Tahor before but after watching it I did a quick google search and there are other documentaries and articles on this group if anyone is interested.

[u/Jacinda-Muldoon]

The YouTube description:

An 18-year-old who fled an extremist Jewish cult called Lev Tahor has recounted his horrific upbringing in the group - revealing that his father died after the leaders refused to let him see a doctor.

Mendy Levy, who was born in Canada in 2003, recalled being forced to swim in freezing cold, snake-filled water and eat hot pepper if he told a lie. When he was 15 years old, he was told he had to marry his 12 year old cousin, and that was the last straw for him.

Mendy said the group, which was founded by Shlomo Helbrans in the 1980s, was about 'total control.'

'You can't do anything without permission. And if they ask you do something, you have to do it,' he recalled to Insider.

'They don't want people to see the outside world. No one is able to go anywhere without the leader's permission.'

Mendy recalled a time when a woman, who was allergic to sesame seeds, was told she had to eat them after to prove 'her faith' to the rabbi.

'Two hours later, she died,' he said. 'As she was suffering from the allergic reaction, they didn't let her call an ambulance. They don't allow doctors in Lev Tahor without the rabbi's permission. They told us to trust the rabbi.'

Something similar happened to his father - who developed an infection in 2016 and needed to go to the hospital.

'The rabbi said no,' Mendy explained. 'My father wasn't eating. He wasn't walking. He got sicker and sicker over a week and a half. And that's how it ended. He died on October 25, 2016.'

During his days at Lev Tahor, Mendy said he woke up at 5:30 in the morning every day. After attending shul (synagogue), all the boys were forced to go into a freezing cold river that was filled with snakes for a ritual called mikvah.

After that, it was back to shul for morning prayer, also called Shacharis - which would last three hours. Then, they were required to listen to the rabbi's speech, which sometimes lasted six or seven hours.

The rest of the day was spent either in shul or in class. But school was different than you'd expect - there was no science, English or math class. Mendy explained that Shlomo had written all of his own books, and that he wanted everyone to know them by heart, so the kids were required to spend all of their free time studying them - and nothing else.

'We didn't even know what the word "science" meant. We didn't speak a word of English. No reading,' he said.

'If you write "ABC" in Lev Tahor, you get a punishment. We don't know what Trump is. We don't know what Biden is. I barely knew what the Holocaust was at the time. No iPhone, no computers, nothing like that unless you were one of the leaders.'

When it came to eating, Mendy said he was forced to skip meals all the time. He also recalled being 'physically and mentally abused.'

He said, 'There's the hitting, the beating up. If someone says a lie - even a small child - they would take hot pepper, the powder, and make them swallow it. After getting hit or beaten, you had to kiss the hand of whoever just hit you and thank him.'

He also said that there was no affection allowed in Lev Tahor, which was made up of about 60 families in total. Parents weren't allowed to hug their kids - and if they were ever caught having a positive connection with them, the children would be 'taken away and placed in a different house.'

'Why? Because they want everyone to believe, listen, and trust only them. If a leader hits you, they don't want you to go to your mother crying. So they cut off the connection between you and your parents,' he added.

Mendy called Shlomo a 'genius' due to his ability to 'brainwash and control a few hundred people for years.'

'People would believe him and follow his society,' Mendy explained. 'They made us look at the outside world like it was the worst and we're the only ones who are the best.

'They made us believe Lev Tahor is the only authentic form of Judaism in the world, and that it's better to die than to leave.

The 18-year-old said that after the group moved from Canada to Guatemala in 2014, he had a nervous breakdown.

'My brain just stopped working because of all this pain. I was thinking of committing suicide. I just exploded,' he recalled.

'I was in the hospital for about half a year. Until then, I didn't understand the things around me were wrong. Most kids wouldn't understand it was wrong.

'But in the hospital, I started thinking differently. I got a different perspective from everyone else in the cult. It was then I started thinking about how I could leave Lev Tahor.'

In 2017, Shlomo drowned in a river during a trip to Mexico, and his son, Nachman Helbrans, took over. According to Mendy, life in the group got even worse after that.

The final straw for him was when Nachman announced that there was a new rule - 'everyone had to get married at 12 or 13 years old.'

Read More at https://www.insider.com/lev-tahor-jew...

[u/Fapplet]

A guy I served in the military with brother was abducted by Lev Tavor, crazy fucking story

[u/mollymuppet78]

My Aunt lived next door to a family in Chatham, Ontario. She said they were normal, quiet. But then children's aid came and took some of the kids away. When the kids were returned, they left in the night.

[u/notluciferforreal]

I think Quebec should have done more. I remember when they child protection decided to intervene, they could find them because the whole group moved to Ontario.

[u/ButtSexington3rd]

Just once I want to see a cult where they don't fuck the kids. Is that too much to ask?

[u/Deago78]

Pretty messed up. Seems that every religion has their deep dark corner cult.

[u/[deleted]]

More from Wikipedia

The leader Helbrans moved to Canada from Israel, he claimed political asylum. Why? Because of his anti-Zionist views. A jewish extremist anti-Zionist. That's almost Scientology level crazy.

Then this:

Members of Lev Tahor applied for political asylum in Iran in 2018, and swore allegiance to the state's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

You may have exceeded Scientology crazy.

[u/TeamShonuff]

When they were discussing the mothers killing their children, it was The Peoples' Temple all over again.