Haredi Girl Who Joined Burka Cult Forbidden By Court From Leaving Israel

A source familiar with the case says the girl’s family suspects that cult members are trying to smuggle the girl outside Israel to an area near Montreal, Canada, where she could hide inside the Lev Tahor haredi cult.

Haredi burka cult women

Haredi Girl Who Joined Burka Cult Forbidden By Court From Leaving Israel
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

There was a hearing in Jerusalem Family Court this morning in the case of the 19-year-old haredi girl who left her family’s home nine months ago to live with a family belonging to the haredi burka cult, also known as the haredi Taliban women and the haredi shawl women.

The girl’s mother saw her daughter for the first time in months at the hearing.   

A source familiar with the case told Behadrei Haredim that the girl’s family suspects that cult members are trying to smuggle the girl outside Israel to an area near Montreal, Canada, where she could hide inside the Lev Tahor haredi cult.

A few days after learning this, the family managed to get a court order  preventing the girl from leaving Israel.

During the same hearing that generated the court order forbidding the girl to travel abroad, the Ministry of Social Affairs was asked to intervene in the case, and a trial meeting took place between the ministry’s representative and the  the girl.

“Since the affair conducted behind closed doors in court, I can not reveal details beyond that," the source said.

The girl left home nine months ago, and moved in with a burka cult family. It is still unclear why she left her parent’s home, and whether she is voluntarily remaining with the cult, or if she was forced to remain there by cult members.

Her family tried desperately to locate the apartment where she was hiding. They used tracking devices and other means, including having friends rent apartments in cult areas in different Israeli cities to try  to locate her.

After months of trying, her parents discovered that the cult was about to marry off their daughter to a man ten years her senior.

The girl’s family increased efforts to thwart the anticipated wedding, including asking the beit din, religious court, of Edah Charedis to intervene. It did, issuing a ruling prohibiting the marriage.

During this time, the girl’s father discovered that his daughter was hiding in an apartment near the corner of Shivtei Yisrael Street and Mea Shearim Street in Jerusalem.

A month ago, the girl’s parents and some friends went to the apartment with the intent to bring the girl home to her parents’ house.

The group allegedly tried to break into the apartment after the cult family refused to open the door for them.

In the tumult, a large crowd formed and residents of the building called police, who arrested the girl’s father and others involved.

Some were released on bail, but were forbidden by police to go near the apartment where the girl was allegedly staying.

But one of the arrested, who has not been named, reportedly refused to agree to stay away from the apartment. He was taken to court, where a judge released him under similar conditions to to the others.

Related Post.

[Hat Tip: LAC.]

Comments

[Realist Jew]

"But one of the arrested, who has not been named, reportedly refused to agree to agree to stay away from the apartment. He was taken to court, where a judge released him"

Where is the restraining order?

[Shmarya]

Posted by: Realist Jew | October 23, 2012 at 12:49 PM

???

He was brought before a judge who released him under similar conditions to the others.

That means he agreed to stay away from the apartment.

[danny]

19 years old is not a "girl". I don't see how a court can forbid an adult from moving wherever she likes. The cat is out of the bag.

That said, I believe that Canadian authorities should investigate the cult compound and determine if there are minors there who are being abused.

[jack]

why the RCMP allows this wicked degenerate cult to operate without hindrance is beyond me....

[InformedAlternative]

First, she's not a girl, she's a woman.

Second, without knowing the psychological/mental status of both sides, it's impossible to say where she's better off. Is she mentally slow? Is her family abusive? Are there personality disorders on either side? If her family is this controlling all the time, from her point of view her only choice in life may be who controls her. Being on her own, in a new 'family', may be better than being in her birth family.

[jancsibacsi]

InformedAlternative --You made very good points its a murky situation to us the readers.

[InformedAlternative]

Thank you, jancsibacsi.

[Eli, what me messiah?]

and a court will rule whether the parents can decide which whacky cult their adult daughter should belong to, theirs or the one the daughter left home for?

get out! seriously?

[Jack]

What is the age of consent in Israel. For that matter, what age do girls enter the military in Israel?

[Bob Guthrie]

"A few days after learning this, the family managed to get a court order preventing the girl from leaving Israel."

Wow, I guess Freedom of travel is not permitted for adults in Israel. There's no indication that she was abducted by this branch of Chareidim, but the family is filling for that role perfectly.

[Barry]

The court can prohibit an adult woman from travelling to determine if she is mentally ill or retarded and if she requires treatment or protection of abuse or exploitation by religious fundamentalists.

[FUJ]

Jack.I am sure the RCMP is working on it. This is not a simple situation.

[Jeff]

A nineteen year-old today is still an adolescent - and this is especially the case in the Haerdi world, in which they're kept in a state of arrested development.

I hope they can prove incompetence and prevent her form moving to Canada. If that raging psychopath gets his hands on her, she'll never break free.

[Bob Guthrie]

Posted by: Barry
"The court can prohibit an adult woman from travelling to determine if she is mentally ill or retarded and if she requires treatment or protection of abuse or exploitation by religious fundamentalists."

...Which none was acknowledge as being the case by the family, court, or the female individual,...

Except for the parents' "suggestion" of "kidnapping".

Good points, not the reasons.

[Sarah]

Please do not tell us these lunatics are in
Canada.

[Bob Guthrie]

Posted by: Sarah
"Please do not tell us these lunatics are in Canada."

Lev Tahor, serving the Extremist Chareidim burqa community from Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec, Canada, since the early 2000s. =/

[NeedSomeProof]

What is the age of consent in Israel. For that matter, what age do girls enter the military in Israel?

Posted by: Jack | October 23, 2012 at 01:43 PM

The Defense Service Law (חוק שירות ביטחון) regulates these duties and exceptions. According to the Defense Service Law, the enlistment to the Israeli Defense Forces is mandatory for all Israeli citizens who have turned 18 (with the above-mentioned exemptions enshrined in the Defense Service Law).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Israel

Being that conscription to the IDF is at 18,I would therefore assume that a person of 19 should be able to choose their lifestyle no matter how kookey.

[Barry]

The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children is an international legal agreement attached to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. The purpose of the Protocol is to facilitate convergence in national cooperation in investigating and prosecuting trafficking in persons. An additional objective of the Protocol is to protect and assist the victims of trafficking in persons with full respect for their human rights. The Trafficking Protocol defines human trafficking as:

(a) [...] the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs;
(b) The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article shall be irrelevant where any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) have been used

The abuse of power or of the vulnerability of an adult woman for sexual exploitation even with consent (which lev tahor marriage objectively is) would amount to people trafficking if borders are crossed.

[Lubavitchers are Christians]

http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/142289/Israel%3A-Emotional-Courtroom-Reunion-Between-Mother-%26-Daughter.html

[Bob Guthrie]

Posted by: Barry
"The abuse of power or of the vulnerability of an adult woman for sexual exploitation even with consent (which lev tahor marriage objectively is) would amount to people trafficking if borders are crossed."

Do you have any references do back up this self opinionated... "assertion", or did you just pulled it our yer arse again (you really to get that file cabinet I suggested last time). =/

[Bob Guthrie]

Posted by: Lubavitchers are Christians
"http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/142289/Israel%3A-Emotional-Courtroom-Reunion-Between-Mother-%26-Daughter.html"

And it was there and then when she exclaimed:

"Mom, Mom, I was abducted against my will by the Lev Tahor, tried to marry me to a man I didn't wish too, prevented me from escaping by moving me around town to several locations, and now they are trying to smuggle me off to Canada!. Mom, this is what happened, let me rip this burqa off, and rescue me here and now in this court, with Police officers all around me to protect me, and take me back home!",...

No?. So, still the case of an adult making a self choice decision that the parents don't approve off, who convinced a judge to prevent her to depart Israel on her own recognizance?.

So much for being a Female Adult in an Extremist Chareidim environment (her mother and father's).

"Her parents!". Her Adult choice.

Life.

[Jeff]

Bob, Barry is right. It's eminently arguable that it's a form of trafficking.

Regarding her age - even a secular 18 year-old is incapable of making an adult decision about such matters, all the more so a Haredi girl who's probably never before made an independent decision in her life.

[Bob Guthrie]

Posted by: Jeff
"Regarding her age - even a secular 18 year-old is incapable of making an adult decision about such matters, all the more so a Haredi girl who's probably never before made an independent decision in her life."

Had he said "Kidnapping", that would be more accurate (but still an "alleged" conclusion put forth by her parents only).

But "Trafficking", as is normally stated and known, is (as he correctly wrote) the "recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.

Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."

...None of which has occurred in this event, even though Barry "alleges" that is the occurrence, and modus operandi of the Lev Tahor, that has transpired here.

Kidnapping, trying to force her to move to Canada against her will, and prostituting her among the males of the sect?. Nail their b*lls to the ceiling.

But, right known, as it stands by the actual events and the woman's demeanor, it's just a case of parents not happy of her leaving the area of influence of their Chareidim community to a loonier Chareidim community.

No love from me whatsoever for the Extremist Chareidim, specially their Loonier siblings, the Neturei Karta and Lev Tahor...

But, unless they are in the proven wrong, is her adult choice, stupid as it his (burqas, really). =P

[Jeff]

I think it can be argued that coercion and exploitation are in evidence.

Lev Tahor is a cult that makes Chabad look like the boy Scouts.

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2012/08/report-lev-tahor-cult-uses-violence-extortion-cult-tactics-to-terrorize-members-123.html

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2012/03/inside-a-haredi-cult-678.html

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2012/03/inside-the-lev-tahor-haredi-cult-678.html

[Bob Guthrie]

Posted by: Jeff
"I think it can be argued that coercion and exploitation are in evidence.

Lev Tahor is a cult that makes Chabad look like the boy Scouts."

Rightly so (although I put Neturei Karta about half a meter of insanity over Lev Tahor. The day Lev Tahor publicly burn the Israeli flag and meet with enemies of Judea in person, they will take flag position).

No, the problem I'm having here is the possible coercion of the Lev Tahor over the actual coercion of the parents, not allowing her to decide on which side of the stupid Extremist Religious fence to fall off.

That'sa all. =|

[Jeff]

Bob, this is no time to be a Libertarian.

My young cousin is a heroin addict. Her life was in shambles. Her parents were going to have her committed to a rehab facility (at the last minute, they didn't have to; she went willingly, but only because she had so much methadone in her system she didn't know what she was doing).

She's 28. Should they not have done that?

[S M L]

I'd be interested to hear what the Canadians might have to say about the possibility of her being admitted as an immigrant under such conditions. It's less a matter of it being Israel's responsiblity to contain her than it is Canada's to decline to admit her under the circumstances. Has this crazed cult been in any legal difficulty at all there?

[S M L]

Interesting that there's no mention of the Canadians doing anything; this is from Israel Hayom:

A remote Canadian area is home to an extreme Jewish religious cult known as "Lev Tahor" ("Pure Heart") whose membership consists mostly of Israelis. Israel Hayom will bring you the full details of how the cult operates and what life is like for its members in Friday's edition.

The cult is run by a charismatic leader named Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, a 50-year-old Israeli citizen who became religious and gathered a group of followers around him whom he proceeded to rule over through physical and mental abuse.

According to witnesses, cult members — who number around 250 people, 100 of whom are children — are coerced through the use of extreme violence, mind-control and various methods of manipulation.

Israel Hayom has heard the unwavering testimony of people who have fled the cult, viewed documents witnesses have provided and heard recordings of vicious beatings of children. There were also documented incidents of weddings involving 14-year-old children and forced marriages and divorces of cult members.

Helbrans has been known to encourage obedience to his demands through methods such as extreme ostracism, excommunication, monetary penalties, food deprivation and the confiscation of holy books. He has also, on occasion, forcefully separated parents and children in what he considered to be defiant families.

The cult leader conducts "psychiatric evaluations" of members on his own and orders his patients to take medication he himself prescribes. Former cult members say the rabbi has total control over his followers, including how they spend their days, what they eat and when they sleep.

The community is said to abide by unusual customs based on traditions of various Hasidic sects, including an extreme dress code which has young girls from the age of three and above donning a head covering similar to the Muslim hijab.

Ultra-Orthodox communities have expressed concern about Helbrans and have warned people to stay away from him.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Lev Tahor cult has been mentioned in connection with several incidents investigated by Israeli police, the FBI, and courts both in Israel and the U.S. Helbrans has, in fact, spent time in a U.S. prison for kidnapping a child from his parents.

Israeli crime investigators are currently in the process of collecting evidence obtained during investigations against Helbrans and his cult and transferring the information to Canadian police in the hope of shutting down the cult and prosecuting suspects involved in the case.

[Barry]

See also - http://gawker.com/5753356/the-fbi-is-investigating-scientology-for-human-trafficking

Taking advantage of a particular woman's psychological vulnerability to marry her off to someone she does not know in an environment isolated from the general community is sexual exploitation and enslavement.

The purpose of the trafficking protocol is not to punish the victim, but rather to punish the abuser.

I am just surmising as to why a court would prevent this woman from traveling. Bob Guthrie, you do not know the reasoning behind the court's decision or the woman's mental state because a gag order is in place.

[Jeff]

In addition to what Barry has said, I'll add this. A fifty year-old may have a right to destroy his or her life. A nineteen year-old doesn't necessarily have that right simply because a few months prior, s/he stepped over an arbitrary legal line.

[Megan]

Ces histoires sont de plus en plus confuses. On voulaire faure une location autobus pour aller visiter cette partie du monde, mais maintenant on ne sait plus vu les problèmes de liberté là-bas. Merci d'avoir posté ceci!