Weeks after the Lev Tahor cult was dismantled in Guatemala and its members dispersed to various countries — including the United States, Canada, and Israel — several families connected to the group have reportedly fled once again, this time to Honduras.

According to sources familiar with the situation, around ten families who had recently resettled in New York secretly left the country during Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah. The families had previously regained custody of their children from Guatemalan welfare authorities on the condition that they separate completely from the cult.

The escape appears to have allegedly been orchestrated under the influence of the group’s jailed leaders, who are currently serving long prison sentences in Brooklyn for severe crimes committed against members of the sect. Those leaders allegedly instructed the families to flee specifically during Yom Tov to avoid detection.

One source described Honduras as “a corrupt country, very similar to Guatemala,” noting that “the imprisoned leaders manipulated the families into believing it was better to live in a country without Jews than to remain in America.”

This is not the first time Lev Tahor’s leadership has ordered members to be Mechalel Shabbos or Yom Tov to carry out their plans. In October 2021, dozens of Lev Tahor members landed in Moldova on Shabbos, only to be denied entry and deported back to Turkey immediately after nightfall. In 2018, the group’s then-leader, Nachman Helbrans, who is now serving a prison sentence in the United States, orchestrated the kidnapping of two children on Shabbos, disguising them as non-Jews in an attempt to smuggle them out of the country.

In 2019, U.S. authorities filed a sweeping indictment against Lev Tahor’s leadership, detailing a pattern of criminal activity, including kidnappings, carried out under the guise of religious obedience.

The latest escape has reignited concern among advocates and family members that Lev Tahor’s dangerous ideology — though weakened — continues to exert control over vulnerable families even after the cult’s formal disbanding.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)