Во некои фб страници луге од Босна пишуваа дека киднапирале деца.
The group has moved frequently, being located in
Israel from 1988 to 1990 (and again from 2000 to 2003), the
United States from 1990 to 2000,
Canada from 2003 to 2014,
Guatemala in 2014,
Mexico since around 2017, and since late 2021
Romania[9] and
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
[10] Since February 2022 they are present in North Macedonia as well.
[11] They often move in an attempt to flee government child welfare agencies.
[12]
The group was formed in the 1980s by Israeli leader
Shlomo Helbrans.
[3] Helbrans moved to the U.S. in the early 1990s, and settled in the
Williamsburg neighborhood of
Brooklyn, New York. While there, he served time in prison for
kidnapping a 13-year-old Israeli boy who was sent to study with him in preparation for the boy's
bar mitzvah.
[13] Helbrans was released after serving two years, allegedly after receiving preferential treatment by New York governor
George Pataki.
[14] He then ran a
yeshiva in
Monsey, New York, and was eventually deported back to Israel.
[14] Soon afterwards, Helbrans moved to Canada, where he received political asylum under Canada's
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, to which he claimed he was entitled due to perceived persecution by Israeli authorities for his
anti-Zionist teachings.
[15][16] Helbrans may have used false evidence to obtain refugee status, paying the kidnapped boy to testify on his behalf.
[17]
Quebec police issued search warrants in relation to allegations that members of Lev Tahor sect inflicted psychological and physical abuse on teenage girls. The abuses allegedly involved girls as young as 13 who were imprisoned in basements, and girls aged 14–15 who were married to older men in the group. One woman said she was struck with a belt and a coat hanger, and a pregnant 17-year-old girl said she was beaten by her brother, sexually abused by her father, and married by force to a 30-year-old man when she was 15.
[35] On November 27, 2013, a Quebec court ruled that 14 children of the group must be placed in
foster care, and arrangements were made for the children to be placed in
Yiddish-speaking
foster homes.
[39] On February 21, a Quebec court ruled the group did not have the right to appeal the previous ruling of a Quebec court, because they failed to file the appeal within a 30-day period, and soon, Canadian authorities began to seek custody of children of Lev Tahor members.
[40][41]