The Anti-Trafficking Prosecutor’s Office of Guatemala’s Public Ministry on Thursday carried out a raid in Oratorio, Santa Rosa, targeting the Lev Tahor sect as part of an investigation into several crimes, including human trafficking through forced and servile marriages, and child abuse.
During the raid, authorities conducted inspections, searches, and seized evidence, including the arrest of a Nicaraguan national, who was caught and detained in the middle of an attempted murder.
Four minors—two girls and two boys between the ages of 15 and 17—were rescued. Since January 2025, all had been the subject of an active Alba-Keneth Alert, a child abduction alert system used in Guatemala, similar to the AMBER Alert in the United States.
One of the most disturbing discoveries was a human skeleton: investigators found a buried wooden box containing skeletal remains believed to be those of a one-year-old child.
Lev Tahor (Hebrew: pure heart), often referred to as the “Jewish Taliban,” is a radical Jewish cult founded in Israel in 1988 by Shlomo Helbrans. The group consists of approximately 200 to 300 members and has been accused by Guatemalan authorities of serious crimes, including child sexual abuse, pedophilia, and rape.
Lev Tahor claims to follow an ultra-fundamentalist version of Judaism, adhering to its own rigid interpretations of Jewish law. Its practices include prolonged prayer sessions, arranged marriages between teenagers, and mandatory full-body black coverings for girls and women starting as young as three years old. The group has faced numerous allegations and legal actions related to kidnapping, sexual abuse, and child mistreatment, with some members having been charged and convicted.
Widely regarded by mainstream Jewish communities as extreme and dangerous, Lev Tahor has a long history of relocating to evade scrutiny and child protection authorities. The group has operated in multiple countries over the decades, including Israel (1988–1990, 2000–2003), the United States (1990–2000), Canada (2003–2013), Guatemala (from 2013), and Mexico (since around 2017). Between late 2021 and early 2022, members were reported in several Eastern European and Balkan countries, including North Macedonia and Bosnia, after being deported from Romania, Turkey, Albania, and Moldova. (Wikipedia)
The Lev Tahor sect has been under investigation in Guatemala since 2024, following a major operation in December in which authorities rescued 160 children and 40 women from conditions of abuse and exploitation.
The intervention was launched after four minors managed to escape and alerted authorities to the sect’s practices, which included rape, forced pregnancies, and systematic violence.
As the investigation progressed, several alleged leaders of the group were apprehended. Among them is Yoel Alter, an Israeli national arrested in February and currently facing extradition to Mexico on charges of human trafficking and sexual abuse. Another key figure, Jonathan Emmanuel Cardona Castillo, was captured in El Salvador.
In February, the International Department of Israel’s State Attorney’s Office submitted an extradition request to authorities in El Salvador for Eliezer Rumpler, one of the leaders of Lev Tahor. Rumpler was arrested in El Salvador in January at Israel’s request. He had been indicted in Israel in May 2020 on charges of physically and mentally abusing two minors under his care. Following the indictment, Rumpler fled the country to evade prosecution.
