ISRAEL
YNet News
An Israeli family court judge rules that Lev Tahor, currently located in the Guatemalan jungle, is a cult with children who are at-risk, including for being married as young as 15 to partners 20 years their elder.
Gilad Morag|Published: 25.04.17
An Israel court ruled Tuesday that the extremist ultra-Orthodox community Lev Tahor (“A Pure Heart”), which lives in a jungle in Guatemala and has many Israeli members, is a cult.
“It is sufficient for my ruling to consider the conduct of the community towards its children, in order to determine that this is an abusive cult that severely harms the bodies and souls of the children of the community,” wrote Judge Rivka Makayes, vice president of the Family Court contained within the Central District Magistrate’s Court. Makayes ruled in the petition filed by the attorney general and relatives of minors who are in the cult.
The judge further wrote, “The evidence presented to me, both in direct testimony and in indirect testimony, led me to the conclusion that the Lev Tahor community treats the children of the community, inter alia, with severe physical punishment, with underage marriage (from the age of 14 for boys and 15 for girls), with spouses who sometimes have age differences of up to 20 years.
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