LEV TAHOR FUGITIVES AND KIDNAPEES BROUGHT BACK TO CANADA

A most fortunate turn of events, sooner than expected, as the authorities in Trinidad-Tobago and their Canadian counterparts have returned the Lev Tahor lawbreakers back to the great white north:

A plane from Trinidad and Tobago carrying nine Lev Tahor members, some of whom are children subject to apprehension orders in Canada, landed at Pearson airport late Saturday.

Peel police officers were scheduled to meet the plane at 10:30 p.m. When it landed, Chatham-Kent Children's Services apprehended 6 children.

“It went well,” said Sgt. Dave Housdon of Peel's airport division. “The kids are off the plane and in the company of Chatham-Kent Children's Services.”

The three adults were to be processed by border security, said Housdon.

The sect members on the plane are in the control of Canadian authorities, the source said. The source said law enforcement agents are on the aircraft.

The flight departed Trinidad and Tobago Saturday afternoon. Fiona Thivierge, a communications officer with Peel police said she did not know if any criminal charges were pending and directed inquiries about that to Chatham-Kent police, who are leading the investigation.

Well, I guess the authorities who initially derelicted their duties by failing to confiscate the abusive cultists' passports are off the hook. And, the authorities in Trinidad-Tobago deserve some credit too. At least half the number of children who needed saving from those clannish creeps have been removed from their custody, although, as some news reports have noted, the other half are in Guatemala, and another still may be in New York.

They may eventually be returned and rescued, but, as this Montreal Gazette report says, taking care of the children raised under such oppressive, abusive mentality will be hard:

...caring for the children will be no easy task, said Mendy Marcus, a product of the foster care system.

Marcus, 20, grew up in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish home as the youngest boy in a family of 12 children. At age 9, he and his siblings were removed from their home in Boisbriand, north of Montreal, because their father was physically abusive. Even though he was no longer in his care, his religious father continued to exert control over his life, including his schooling and the foster families he was placed with. Youth protection officials granted his father’s request that Mendy, then 11, and his older brother be sent from Montreal to live with the Lev Tahor community in the home of one of its leaders, Uriel Goldman in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts.

This is a pure shocker. Several years ago, authorities were letting Lev Tahor run their repellent business unfettered, and even allowed them to operate as foster guardians. That was really irresponsible, and I'm glad the truth is coming out about the cult now.

His brother remains with the community today, is married and has a son. Marcus said he feels for all the children in the community, and would like child protection services to remove them all, including his nephew. Quebec’s Department of Youth Protection has said it is working with its Ontario counterparts to remove all 127 children from Lev Tahor.

Marcus said the road ahead for the 13 children ordered to live with foster families will be a difficult one.

“They’re all under the impression that if they are placed in foster care, it’s like they’re put in a house with Nazis,” he said. “All other Jewish communities aren’t doing it right. According to the (Lev Tahor) community, everyone else is going to hell.”

He said as long as the children remain in contact with their families and the Lev Tahor sect, they won’t be able to adjust to a normal life.

Mike Kropveld, the executive director of Info-cult, a non-profit charitable organization, agreed it will be emotionally difficult for the children to leave the community.

“They have probably grown up with fear of those on the outside,” he said. “Since they are the ones that are the exclusive holders of truth, those on the outside will be perceived as enemies set out to destroy their spiritual life.”

I'm afraid he's right. A lot of insular Haredi sects consider natural shows of emotion like hugging and kissing abominable, and Lev Tahor may have made things worse by indoctrinating the children to think the mere sight and presence of an "outsider" who doesn't dress/think/act their way is a monster, even Jews. And I wouldn't be surprised if, via their anti-Israel positions, they taught them that Jewish symbols like Stars of David and Menorahs are equivalent to nazi symbols like swastikas. If they damaged the children's minds that badly, that's truly offensive.

I've often wondered how sects like these manage to twist the Torah/bible out of context to believe God didn't want the Israelites to leave Egypt, return to Israel and lead a self-determined life. I wish the papers had asked refugees from abusive cults like these how this comes to be. One day, we'll hopefully receive the answer to that question.

Members born in the community often have very rudimentary knowledge of any language that’s not Yiddish. One former member who spoke to The Gazette on condition of anonymity said she had trouble with basic tasks like going to the store, taking the bus, or even being in the same room as a man who was not her husband, as the community has strict rules separating men and women.

Another former member living in Montreal successfully got his five children ordered out of the community by a youth court last year. They have been living with a foster family. The father has yet to gain custody of his children.

Kropveld said if the children are removed, the ideal scenario is for them to be reunited with their parents if the situation improves. In that case, youth protection officials will have to closely follow what happens with the community.

“If the group stays the way it is, it is less likely the children will be returned (if the parents remain part of the community), but a group can change,” he said. “If parents leave the group, what kind of state will they be in, and what kind of help will they need? If they have been in the group their whole life and have no education, no language or budgetary skills, what are they going to do?”

Marcus is afraid the children will struggle to find stability in foster care. In his case, he lived with a different foster family or group home almost every year.

I just hope any who'd been abused badly will be glad they're no longer among such awful demons. There may be some parents who'll leave the community, but still others who won't, and those who don't cannot be allowed anywhere near the children. Those who leave will need help in readjusting to life in bigger society, and should have communications with Jews who aren't Haredi, in order to learn how Judaism is not and never was exclusively Haredi, and isn't the distorted reflection Shlomo Helbrans and his vile gang twisted it into.