Approximately ten families affiliated with the extremist Lev Tahor cult, who had recently resettled in the New York area, fled to Honduras during the Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret holidays.
Their flight followed direct instructions from the sect’s imprisoned leadership, currently serving sentences in a federal prison in Brooklyn.
These families had previously regained custody of their children from welfare authorities in Guatemala after committing to leave the cult, which was officially dismantled earlier this month.
However, some of the families secretly regrouped in New York and coordinated an escape to Honduras, a country known for weak child protection policies.
The directive to flee during the Jewish holiday, thereby desecrating it, was reportedly issued by the cult’s incarcerated leaders, who were convicted of severe crimes against children and members of the sect. The timing was calculated to avoid detection which could have thwarted the escape.
A source familiar with the situation stated, “Honduras is a corrupt country, similar to Guatemala. This was all done through manipulation by the jailed leaders, who convinced the families that it was better to live in a country with no Jewish presence than to remain in America.”
This is not the first time Lev Tahor leaders have instructed followers to violate Shabbat (Sabbath) or Jewish holidays: In October 2021, dozens of sect members landed in Moldova in the middle of the day on Shabbat, were denied entry, and deported back to Turkey immediately after Sabbat ended.
In 2018, two children were kidnapped on Shabbat by Nachman Helbrans, then leader of the sect and now serving a prison sentence. The kidnapping involved driving and flying while the children were disguised as non-Jews to conceal their identities. In July 2019, Helbrans and several other leaders were indicted for these actions.