May 26, 2020
On Tuesday, in the Jerusalem District Court, an indictment was filed against Elazar Rompler for child abuse. Rompler served as a school principal in Canada for the Lev Tahor cult and is charged with mentally and physically abusing at least two children, ages 8 and 9 respectively between the years of 2009-2011. Rompler, 46, held his position before the group fled from Canada to Guatemala in 2014.
The children in question, were children who belonged to the cult and were under his tutelage. In one case Rompler allegedly had a child stripped, tied up, and beaten with a stick for several hours over suspicions that the child stole money from a tzedaka box.
He is also accused of instructing other teachers to hold a child down and beat the child repeatedly for allegedly lying.
There are currently multiple Lev Tahor cult leaders in United States Federal prison awaiting trials. Among them are Nachman Helbrans, 36; Mayer Rosner, 42, and his son Jacob Rosner, 20; Aron Rosner, 45, of Brooklyn, Mayer Rosner’s brother. A fifth man, Lev Tahor member Matityau Malka, and Mordechai Yoel Malka.
They face various charges including kidnapping, identity theft, (use of fake passports) conspiracy to defraud the United States and international parental kidnapping. Four are being held without bond (due to flight risks). Aron Rosner was released on a $10 million bond to home confinement and electronic monitoring.
Former members of Lev Tahor (who either escaped or were otherwise expelled) do not recall learning Mishnayos or Gemara, nor any Mitzvos Bein Adam LeChaveiro. They spend the majority of the day in deep prayer and are only allowed to study certain sections of the Chumash, with Lev Tahor commentary.
Lev Tahor practices include women and girls wearing black head-to-toe coverings day and night, arranged marriages between teenagers, and a violent form of Malkos. Lev Tahor only permits certain fruits and vegetables to be eaten, as well as whole wheat flour made into bread with a stone press.
Reports indicate cult leaders have suggested death as better alternative than life outside the cult.
Lev Tahor was founded and led by Shlomo Helbrans, from the 1980s until his drowning death in Mexico in 2017. Since then, the leadership has moved into the hands of his son Nachman Helbrans, along with Mayer Rosner, Yankel and Yoel Weingarten, who are even more radical and aggressive than the late founder.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/featured/1865043/lev-tahor-cult-school-principal-indicted-in-jerusalem-for-child-abuse.html
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