One of the leaders of the extremist Jewish sect Lev Tahor was arrested in El Salvador, as part of a vast crackdown carried out by Central American authorities against this sect, accused of mistreating children.
El Salvador’s attorney general confirmed in a statement Monday that Rabbi Eliezer Rompler, who was indicted in Israel in 2020 by the Jerusalem court for molesting and abusing children, has been taken into custody.
Rompler, a leading figure in the extremist sect, fled Israel after his indictment and took refuge in Guatemala, where most members of the sect have lived for years.
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According to the Walla news site, Rompler tried to flee to El Salvador after Guatemalan authorities began cracking down on Lev Tahor, but he was arrested at the border due to an Interpol arrest warrant, presumably issued at the request of Israel.
The attorney general’s statement said Israel is expected to submit a request in the coming days to extradite Rompler for prosecution in Israeli courts.
In December, several Central American countries began a sweeping crackdown against Lev Tahor over allegations of child sexual abuse, forced marriages and other crimes.
The crackdown began when Guatemalan police raided the Lev Tahor compound late last month, after four minors escaped from the community and alerted authorities to allegations of human trafficking . They removed approximately 160 children and adolescents from the community.
Guatemala’s attorney general said that several weeks after the children were placed in protection, authorities were still seeking to identify the children and adolescents who were placed in state care.
“It is not yet possible to establish who their biological parents are and they do not have identity documents,” the statement said.
“DNA tests will be carried out to determine the identity of their parents and then obtain their testimonies. »
Members of the Lev Tahor Jewish sect in front of the Alida Espana de Arana special education school where rescued children are housed in Guatemala City, December 22, 2024. (Credit: Johan Ordoñez/AFP)
Earlier this month, police in El Salvador announced the arrest of Lev Tahor member Jonathan Emmanuel Cardona Castillo on charges of human trafficking, rape and child abuse. Castillo had attempted to cross the border between Guatemala and El Salvador, near the town of Ahuachapán, where he was apprehended.
El Salvador authorities are coordinating his extradition for prosecution in Guatemala, https://twitter.com/PNCSV/status/1875269658820919469 at the police station.
Interpol, an international police agency, launched a global alert against Castillo at the end of December. Castillo, 23, is a citizen of Guatemala and El Salvador. He speaks Hebrew and Spanish, according to Interpol.
The cult has gone to great lengths to reclaim children taken from their community in the past. Its leader, Nachman Helbrans, and other members of Lev Tahor’s leadership are incarcerated in New York for kidnapping two children, whose mother had fled Lev Tahor to ensure their safety. Helbrans’ father, Shlomo, founder of this sect, was also imprisoned for kidnapping in the 1990s.
PGN members participating in a child rescue operation at a Lev Tahor farm in the municipality of Oratorio, Guatemala, December 20, 2024. (Guatemalan Attorney General of the Nation’s Office/AFP)
Opponents of the sect said the children had been “brainwashed” by Lev Tahor’s leaders and would likely need a long convalescence to acclimate to mainstream society.
Israeli officials are assisting local authorities in this matter. Lev Tahor members are citizens of different countries, including Israel, the United States and Guatemala.
Lev Tahor’s name means “pure heart”, but his initiatives, maneuvers and plans are distinguished by their obscurantism. In 2017, an Israeli court ruled that this group was “a dangerous sect”.
Its members adhere to an extreme and idiosyncratic interpretation of Judaism and the dietary laws of kashrut, one that isolates members from the outside world. Men spend the majority of their days praying and studying specific passages from the Torah. Women and girls, for their part, are required to dress in black dresses that completely cover their body, face and eyes.
Family members and some of the children who were rescued from the Jewish sect Lev Tahor and taken to a shelter are detained by police after trying to leave the facility in Guatemala City on December 23, 2024. (Johan Ordoñez /AFP)
A group called Lev Tahor Survivors, which opposes the sect’s activities, estimated its membership at several hundred people. He claims that it is run by a hard core, with the others being held against their will most of the time.
