Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Two Children From Haredi Canadian Sect Taken Into Custody by Child Services

Child-protection authorities in Ontario have taken two children into protective custody from the reclusive Jewish sect Lev Tahor.

A lawyer for the group told The Toronto Star on Monday that officials with the Chatham-Kent Children’s Services in southwest Ontario seized the two children from one family on Dec. 12.

The circumstances surrounding the seizure are not known, but the Star quoted a source as saying that the children taken into custody are not connected to a Quebec court ruling last month that ordered 14 children from Lev Tahor into foster care. A second source told the newspaper that the children are a brother and sister about 3 or 4 years old.

The original ruling from Quebec targeted children from two Lev Tahor families ranging in age from 2 months to 16 years. About 40 families from the extremist haredi Orthodox Jewish group fled from north of Montreal to Chatham, about 200 miles southwest of Toronto, on Nov. 18, a few days before the Quebec ruling was handed down.

On Dec. 4, Ontario child-welfare authorities sought a warrant to seize all the children. An Ontario justice of the peace denied the request; an appeal of that decision will be heard on Dec. 23.

Quebec authorities have documented what they say is evidence of neglect, psychological abuse, poor dental and physical health, and an education regime run by the community that falls below provincial standards, according to The Star.

The sect, led by Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, reportedly uses extreme violence and mind control. Most of its members are Israeli-born with children born in Canada.

Originally an Israeli citizen, Helbrans went to the United States, where he was convicted in 1994 for kidnapping and served a two-year prison term before being deported to Israel in 2000. He then settled in Canada.

An Israeli parliamentary hearing last month documented cases of physical abuse and said the sect is a dangerous cult.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.