Many children of followers of Rabbi Eliezer Berland, the Breslov leader who fled Israel to avoid prosecution on sex abuse charges and who is now holed up in Namibia, are reportedly no longer strictly Orthodox and wander the streets committing crimes.
Rabbi Eliezer Berland
Breslov Community Implodes As Leader Continues To Flee Prosecution
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Many children of followers of Rabbi Eliezer Berland, the Breslov leader who fled Israel to avoid prosecution on sex abuse charges and who is now holed up in Namibia, are reportedly no longer strictly Orthodox and wander the streets committing crimes.
MyNet reportedly documented that of these children have ceased being fully Orthodox and have become truants with police records.
A leading figure in Berland’s former Shuvu Banim community in East Jerusalem, reportedly told MyNet that dozens of Breslov teens have pending criminal cases. They’re charged with a variety of crimes in various incidents, including throwing rocks at Arab vehicles traveling on Highway 1, which borders their Old City neighborhood and often violent confrontations with Arabs in the Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood nearby.
Parents have reportedly agreed to work with social workers from the municipality and with other government officials, including Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Rabbi Chaim Epstein, to help their children, and therefore police are apparently willing to close some of those criminal files.
Epstein reportedly visited the community last week and was briefed on the problems facing those and other children there and the problems caused by the community’s implosion. He reportedly promised city funding to help address these these issues.
Since Berland fled, and as the police investigation into embezzlement, money laundering, tax fraud and other related alleged crimes committed by and through Berland’s Shuvu Banim nonprofit by his son, grandson and several other community leaders, many of Berland’s followers reportedly no longer view Berland as their leader.
Related:
All Rabbi Eliezer Berland Posts.
[Hat Tip: APC.]