Leader Of Fringe Ultra-Orthodox Sect Reported Drowned In Mexico
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — The leader of a fringe haredi Orthodox sect suspected of abusing children has drowned in a river in Mexico, local media are reporting.
Israeli-born Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans reportedly was found drowned in a river in the Mexican state of Chiapas on Friday.
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement issued Saturday night that it is looking into the reports of Helbrans’ death to determine if they are accurate.
The sect, with about 230 members, relocated to Guatemala from Canada in 2014 following allegations of mistreatment of the sect’s children, including abuse and child marriages.
It moved in 2016 from the outskirts of Guatemala City to Oratorio, a village 30 miles east of Guatemala City, after religious disputes with its neighbors, and then reportedly crossed the border from Guatemala to Mexico three weeks ago.
The group shuns technology and its female members wear black robes from head to toe, leaving only their faces exposed. It was founded by Helbrans in Israel in the 1980s and rejects the State of Israel, saying the Jewish Promised Land can only be established by God, not men.
Helbrans left Israel with several followers for the United States in the 1990s, and later served two years in prison for kidnapping after helping a 13-year-old boy go into hiding from his secular mother. Following his imprisonment he fled to Canada and granted refugee status after claiming persecution in Israel for his religious and political beliefs.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
