When the Lev Tahor haredi cult fled Canada for Guatemala this summer, it joined up with another small haredi cult already established in rural Guatemala – Toiras Chesed. Now the small Guatemalan town where these haredi cults sought refuge from child abuse laws and other government regulations is evicting them. Here's why.
Above: Two Lev Tahor women in Canada (file photo)
When the Lev Tahor haredi cult fled Canada for Guatemala this summer, it joined up with another small haredi cult already established in rural Guatemala – Toiras Chesed. Now the small Guatemalan town where these haredi cults sought refuge from child abuse laws and other government regulations is evicting them.
Why?
Because the haredi cults are foreign, bizarre and have converted people from local indigenous tribes whose ways of life and religious beliefs (in this case, reportedly Catholicism) are protected by Guatemala's constitution.
The cults are viewed as European interlopers disrupting native life.
Guatemala's mainstream Jewish community also let it be known that Lev Tahor and Toiras Chesed are cults that do not represent normative Judaism.
But the bottom line seems to be, if you come to small rural Guatelaman village and wear layers of dark wool clothes that cover you from head to toe like a burka, or dark fur felt hats and dark woolen clothes and peyos, you're going to appear strange.
And if you couple that strangeness with unfriendliness and disrespect for local custom, you're likely going to get kicked out.
It doesn't make the village elders decision to boot out these cults right, though.
Here's a Spanish language news report on the expulsion, which should be completed today:
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