Lev Tahor Cult Leader Rabbi Shlomo Erez Helbrans Reportedly Drowns in Mexico

Matzav
July 08, 2017

http://matzav.com/lev-tahor-cult-leader-rabbi-shlomo-erez-helbrans-reportedly-drowns-in-mexico/

Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, leader of the ‘Jewish’ cult Lev Tahor, was found drowned in a river in the Mexican state of Chiapas on Friday. His body was pulled from the river by rescue forces on Friday afternoon after he was swept away by strong currents while toiveling before Shabbos.

He was 55 years old.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said that it received reports of the drowning and added that it was investigating, but could not confirm Helbrans’ death, according to Channel 10.

A native of Yerushalayim’s Kiryat Yovel neighborhood, Helbrans was born in 1962 to Pinchos and Yocheved Elbarnes, secular Jews. Around his 13^th birthday, he became religious and studied at a yeshiva in Yerushalayim.

In 1988, he was part of the Arachim kiruv movement and later established an independent yeshiva named Lev Tahor.

In 1990, Rabbi Helbrans moved his community to the United States and opened a small Lev Tahor yeshiva in Brooklyn.

In 1994, he was accused of assisting a 13-year-old child named Shay Fima (or Shay Reuven) to go into hiding from his mother, a secular woman, who had brought him to study at the yeshiva for his bar mitzvah; Shay later had become emotionally and religiously attached to Rabbi Helbrans. Rabbi Helbrans denied any involvement. He was arrested, but released.

Two years later, he was arrested again, after being implicated during a wired interview with the father, in cooperation with the FBI. During the trial, Shay Fima Reuven took the stand as a witness, described his running and hiding, and completely denied the involvement of Rabbi Helbrans, but rather claimed that he had run from his mother who beat him. Rabbi Helbrans was found guilty, convicted and imprisoned for two years. He was originally sentenced to four to 12 years in prison, but in June 1996 an appeals court, while not accepting his innocence, reduced the sentence to two to six years due to good faith. Three days later, he was placed in the work release program. After protests, since Rabbi Helbrans lost his permanent resident status and was not allowed to work in the US, he was moved back to prison until the end of his two years term.

Accusations of child abuse and other atrocities committed inside his community with “cult-like” features were prevalent in the media dealing with the story. The high-profile case drew much attention in Israel and in the U.S., and gained further attention when Rabbi Helbrans successfully convinced New York prison authorities to waive their requirement that all prisoners be shaved for a photograph upon entering prison, a violation of strict Jewish law in his opinion, and to accept a computer-generated image of what he would have looked like clean-shaven instead.

In November 1996, following the State Parole Board decision to release Rabbi Helbrans after two years in prison, the case rose to near scandal with suspicions that the Pataki administration was providing him special treatment

After his release from prison, Rabbi Helbrans ran a yeshiva in Monsey, New York, and following the loss of status, was deported to Israel in 2000, where he was to be sentenced for various accusations by people whose family members had joined the community Lev Tahor.

He fled to Canada, where in 2003 he was granted refugee status, claiming that he will be persecuted in Israel due to his religious political beliefs.Some members of his community fled to Guatemala.

Helbrans’ community, Lev Tahor, is considered extreme. In Israel, it is nicknamed “the Jewish Taliban” and “the Taliban sect.” Lev Tahor requires women and girls to don head-to-toe black coverings.

During November 2013, Quebec authorities summoned Lev Tehor members to court on allegations that their homeschooling was not compliant with Quebec’s education standards. The community also court case calling them to release the 14 children of one of Rabbi Helbrans’ sons from the community, after he had previously left the community. A few days later, community members fled to Ontario, settling in the municipality of Chatham-Kent. On November 27, 2013, a youth court judge in Quebec ordered that 14 children from the community be placed temporarily in foster care, undergo medical exams and receive psychological support. The hearing, in the St. Jérôme courthouse, took place in the absence of the Lev Tahor parents. The families sent a lawyer instead. The order was not immediately enforced because the parents, one of which was Rabbi Helbrans’ son who had previously left the community, were residents of Ontario, triggering a long legal battle. However, on February 3, 2014, an Ontario Judge decided to send back the 14 children to Quebec. While pending an appeal, the parents and children left Canada to Guatemala and other locations. Some were returned, triggering another legal battle, still pending.