Sunday, July 9, 2017

Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, founder of the Lev Tahor ultra-Orthodox sect, found dead in a river in Mexico


Helbrans as a child lighting Chanukah Candles

Rabbi Shlomo Erez Helbrans, 55, leader of the "Lev Tahor" ("Pure Heart") ultra-Orthodox sect, was found drowned in a river in the Mexican state of Chiapas on Friday, according to local media.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying the reports were being looked into by the Israeli embassy in Mexico.


According to local media, Helbrans' body was pulled from the river by rescue forces on Friday afternoon after the rabbi was swept away by strong currents while swimming before Shabbat.

Rabbi Helbrans was the head of a group of forty ultra-Orthodox families who entered the state of Chiapas about three weeks ago, after crossing the border from Guatemala.

From Israel to the US, Canada, Guatemala and finally Mexico

Helbrans was born Shlomo Elbarnes into a secular family in Jerusalem, only becoming religious as a young man. He studied at the Itri Yeshiva in Jerusalem before founding the Lev Tahor sect in the 1980s.

Lev Tahor is an ultra-Orthodox sect comprised of predominantly Israeli Haredi extremists who leave their families behind in Israel as part of a wider boycott of Zionism. The group is widely considered to be a cult for its extreme conduct which adheres to the strict word of Jewish scripture.

In the 1990s, the movement was under investigation by Israeli authorities for allegedly collaborating with Islamist elements against state security. Helbrans fled to the United States along with several students who were smuggled out of Israel with fake passports. As such, an additional investigation into Helbrans for kidnapping was launched.

Whilst in the United States, Helbrans was arrested and served two years in prison for kidnapping after assisting a 13-year-old boy go into hiding from his secular mother.

After his release from prison in the US, Helbrans was to be deported to Israel, but instead fled to Canada where he was granted refugee status after claiming persecution in Israel for his religious and political beliefs.

Underage marriage, beatings and psychiatric drugs

According to estimates, the sect numbers about 230 people, of whom about 150 are children.

About three and a half years ago, Canadian authorities blocked the group from transferring underage members to Guatemala after Canadian courts issued a decree requiring some children to be transferred to foster families after being found to have been severely abused.

Welfare officials in Ontario and Quebec claimed that they had evidence of abuse involving beatings, underage marriage, and illegal education. However, the sect succeeded in transferring a number of the children to Guatemala giving rise to a legal battle over the last few years to expel them back to Canada.

In September 2016, at the request of Israeli authorities, Guatemalan law enforcement raided the Lev Tahor compound and arrested its leaders on suspicion of child abuse. The raid prompted its members to leave the site to a new location in eastern Guatemala, and complain that they were being persecuted due of their faith.

Helbrans and the group had crossed the Guatemalan border into the Mexican state of Chiapas several weeks ago. 

45 comments:

Yosh55 said...

I remember him in the late 70's in the breslov shule in meah sharing... Crazy as he was. He wrote a tremendous ספר on the חיוב of leaving yisroel... The bekious is mind boggling. Just found it 3 weeks ago in גניזה.

Anonymous said...

He won't be missed

Dusiznies said...

6:01
He wasn't "crazy" at all...... he was evil personified!
"bekious?' He was a bono-fide "am haaretz" besides being an admitted "ben niddah"
To write a phony sefer about the "tremendous ספר on the חיוב of leaving yisroel." is exactly my point that he was an ignorant bafoon .....
he was also a child abuser ...
the world is better off without him!

Anonymous said...

How dare you call this evil monster a Rabbi?,this filthy bastard was a rabbi like Jim Jones was one,this monster literally destroyed hundreds of lives,
what happened yesterday should have happened years ago before he had a chance to do all this damage,but better later than never.

Anonymous said...

yosh55%%,
the meraglim wrote a better shmuz on not even entering eretrz yisroel and millions followed their shmuz

jancsibacsi said...

He was deranged an abnormal sick individual the tragedy is that he enslaved the weak minded and tortured them pshychologically terrible person.

AishKodesh said...

DIN, give him a little respect! He will answer to Hashem for whatever faults he posesses. We need not talk about them... especially now...

Anonymous said...

Shlomo helbrans to be cremated and fed to his followers.
He'll be burned just like an broiled Korban pesach on a spit connecting his mouth to his A$$hole

Abe said...

I'm told, based on reliable sources, that Helbrans is not really dead. His spokesman Yuval Veeblefetzer, who was on the river's beach, said that he saw a bright light ascending to Shamayim as he was pulled under the water and was informed in a dream that Helbrans is The Moshiach and will be coming back bimhayra bimyamaynu to expell the Zionists from Eretz Yisroel. When Helbrans resurfaces, according to Veeblefetzer, his first takana will be to expose The Lubavitcher Rebbe as a fake Moshiach.

Anonymous said...

mmmmmmmm delicious
Suits the sickos very well
Then they will wash it down with tequila

Abe said...

Yosh55 , 6:01AM,

If he was as crazy as you say, why would you believe anything that said or wrote?
Sounds like you're as deluded as he was.

TalmidChochom said...

It appears that the overwhelming opinion is quite clear.
He was a dirtbag.

Abe said...

AishKodesh 10:00AM,

Why would you give him any respect at all? He was a choteh u'machteh et harabim.
Why wouldn't want to talk about a rasha like Helbrans. Is he less of rasha than Shabbsai Tzvi? No, He's worse than Shabsai Tzvi.

Anonymous said...

Did he really die?
Are there any photos of how he is pulled out?

AishKodesh said...

Abe, he is surely better than Shabsai Tzvi.

Anonymous said...

Yehi zichro baruch.
He suffered allot by the hateful secular anti religious media.
The fact that he was so hunted and dogged by the Jewish anti Semites all the time, even the ones that call themselves "frum", made many investigate further to find that the mostly they were looking for reasons to smear him, for ulterior motives...
There has never been a stitch of evidence to show brainwashing, molestation, child endangerment, etc.

Anonymous said...

BULL $HIT
you must be retarded

jancsibacsi said...

July 9, 2017 at 4:21 PM---You are truly mentally deranged you are very very sick if you dont see the obvious of how insane he helbrant was go get help the biggest anti semite is you yourself who bring on the hate of nonjews on jews.

Anonymous said...

jansick...
And what is the "obvious"?
talk hard facts. Not adjectives.
If the only proof you have is calling the other person names, I rest my case.

Anonymous said...

ברוך דיין האמת

Did it occur to any commentators that a person who died while toiveling in a mikveh is considered a martyr whose mesiras nefesh cleansed him from all aveiros he presumably did?

Anonymous said...

Abe, you got it wrong. A Meshiach Junta is being organized. Helbran and the L Rebbe are two of the members. Yoel of S is being considered, but it has not been finally decided.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully he can still burn in hell even if he is soaking wet. Pig.

jancsibacsi said...

July 9, 2017 at 11:35 PM--The obvious is that you are a mindless moron or pure evil.

AishKodesh said...

ב"ה

1:04 AM, Great point. ברוך דיין האמת.

Steve Brown said...

Baruch Hashem he didnt/doesnt have a massive following Bec if it comes out that their was foul play we might have another yushke on our hands.
Thats why the muslims didnt kill shbsai tvi originally they saw what happened with yeezus
Anyone thats main purpose is being around kids the whole day and is mentally deranged and obsessed with child marriages should be denounced.
For a good read: http://rapandradiony.blogspot.com/2017/07/i-wrote-this-while-ago-to-collegue-in.html?m=1

Anonymous said...

Back again you moron ?

Abe said...

AishKodesh 10:12AM,

Great point?
And what is the provenance of that great point. Who said it and when?
So a Chareidi pedophile Rebbe who molested a few of his students is considered a martyr whose aveiros are cleansed because he died toiveling in a mikva?? If you believe that you're in deep need of hashkafic reorientation. Your approach to expiation of sin sounds more like a believer in Jesus whose sins are washed away by acceptance of him as lord and savior and saved by his grace.
Besides, why would a sinner die toiveling in a mikva? Whatever happened to "Shliach mitzva ayno niznakin"?

Anonymous said...

When you read what Jancshnitzel has to say and the way he says it, instinctively I start assuming the opposite...
Seems like at least one OTD Klux Klan member still didnt commit suicide

reality check said...

"a person who died while toiveling in a mikveh is considered a martyr whose mesiras nefesh cleansed him from all aveiros he presumably did?"

Where did you get that from?

Someone who puts themself in danger to immerse in a raging river is going against the Torah.

Anonymous said...

According to the teaching of the Christian cult lev tahor.
Muhammad will save the soul of Hell brans and deliver 70 virgins

Yosh55 said...

I called him crazy because he was frumer than RYT, the satmar Rebbe . The SR let people live in isreal, take national insurance (ביטוח לאומי). Even Nazi reparations he allowed!!!

AishKodesh said...

Abe, my main point is that we should stop speaking lashon hara! He's dead, okay. There is no more "Mitzvah li'farseim", as DIN likes to use as an excuse. Hashem will judge him -- you, and none of us have the right to. Okay? So please just stop.

Dusiznies said...

12:30
You seem to be holier than the Torah itself ..... The Torah spoke lasan hara on Dasan V'aveerum and Korach ...and even spoke lashan horah about the Shivteh Kah...the tribes..... if not for these stories recorded in the Torah ... we would never have known that it occurred ....it seems that there is a time to actually talk lashan horah!

AishKodesh said...

DIN, now you're comparing yourself to Hashem, C"V?!

Anonymous said...

Cut your stupid crap go back to your padded cell.
You're comparing yourself to Bilam's female donkey

Anonymous said...

Are you retarded or suffering from dementia you're absolutely insane

Anonymous said...

You're such a putz

Anonymous said...

Will you guys stop it already
Take your personal hatred out on each other in private.
No one here is interested in your childish affairs

Tzelofchod said...

Janci, I sit here reading how the moron commentators who farchazir this smut-blog trying to outdo themselves with invective, insults and filthy swearing.
Sadly but unsurprisingly the Herr Blogmeister relishes and encourages this Tinofos.

But you Janci, I really thought that once your adored Avoda Zara Shmarya kicked the bucket – that you too will join him into obscurity.
But I was wrong. You are back here now wit he same same repetitive, monotonous and boring personal attacks - trying your best (or worst) to outdo Herr Blogmeister.
So if we indeed have to put up with your crap, please think of some original and different swear-words – maybe even in your Marmarosher-pow-erisher mamah-loshon..
After all it seems that you and Herr Blogmeister are gilgulim of Doson and Aviram and presumably, each of them had their unique hate words on Moshe Rabeinu

Otherwise shut up and crawl back into your kennel

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

There goes aish anonymously spewing his retarded trash

Anonymous said...

Is tzelofchod the new name for the idiot aish

AishKodesh said...

No. I have absolutely no idea who wrote those comments. And believe me, I am not lying. The Torah forbids it.

jancsibacsi said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Que tontería leer todo estas opiniones infundadas por medios. Yo lo conocí y viví entre ellos un tiempo. Fue un gran hombre y no vi lo que dicen. Es lashon hará lo que dicen. Otra gran tzadik dijo de el. Fue un tzadik aún como marchó de este mundo. Recordemos que de grandes en el pasado también hubo comentarios como los que hoy muchos que se creen gran cosa escriben. El pecado más grande, lashon hará. Cuiden sus comentarios y D se encarga de todo, tengan temor de D al referirse al rebbe. En mi sus bendiciones se cumplieron y nunca hablo de abuso ni se inmoralidad es, estaba en contra de ello, no miraba a una mujer a su rostro, yo lo vi. No lo leí, ni me lo contaron, ni vi un vídeo amarillista....