Judge orders 14 Lev Tahor children placed in foster care

A youth court judge in Quebec has ordered that 14 children from the ultra-orthodox Jewish sect Lev Tahor be placed temporarilyin foster care, undergo medical exams and receive psychological support.

The order also compels the children'sparents to turn over their passports.

The hearing,in the St. Jrme courthouse,took place in the absence of the Lev Tahor parents.

The fathers of thosefamilies sent a lawyer instead.

Some 200 members of the group including about 130 children fled to the town of Chatham-Kent in rural Ontario with the apparent intention to resettle there.

The judge's decision cameafter Quebecs youth protection services asked that the 14 children from two families in Lev Tahor be removed from their families and placed in foster homes.

Members of theLevTahorcommunity of about 200 peopleabouthalf of them childrenwere under investigation by social servicesin Quebec for a host of issues, including hygiene, children's health, and allegations that the children weren't learningtheQuebec curriculum.

They suddenly fled their home in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts for southern Ontario last week amid those allegations.

Child-welfare authorities and local police in Ontariosay they found nothing unusual when they checked in on the Lev Tahorchildren that fled to that province.The community denies any mistreatment of the children.

Quebec child-welfare officials said on Monday they briefed theircounterparts in Ontario on the case and would wait to see howauthorities in Chatham-Kent and Windsor, Ont., decide to proceed.

Authorities in Ontario have only said they are aware of thegroup's presence in the region. The local police said on Tuesdaythat theychecked in on the community and are monitoring thesituation.

"An initial assessment of the children's well-being has beenconducted with the assistance of the Chatham-Kent IntegratedChildren's Services and at this time there are no concerns," Const.Renee Cowell of the Chatham-Kent police said in a statement.

Concerns arose over children's educationlevels

The investigation began last winter. Quebec welfareauthorities have described the situation for some children as"serious."

The head of youth protection for Quebec's Laurentians region saidthere were concerns about the health and level of education of thechildren.

There were claims the homes where the children lived were dirtyand littered with garbage and that the children, who arehome-schooled, were not capable of doing basic math. Many also spokeneither French nor English.

Quebec officials alleged the situation "establishes apresumption of neglect against children." The Quebec authoritieshad been working with the group until Nov. 18, when some 40 familiesleft their homes in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts in the middle of the night.

"With the Lev Tahor community moving to Ontario, exchanges havecontinuously been made by the Quebec welfare office and aid workersin Ontario as well as police in that province," the Quebecorganization said in a statement.

The Lev Tahor has denied through spokespeople that the children are being neglected.

Nachman Helbrans, a spokesman for the sect, has said they want toeducate their children according to their own religious beliefs andfled to Ontario to avoid Quebec's education system, which "doesn'tgive freedom of religion as most people understand it."

Helbrans said the move had been in the works for some time.

Situation is 'sensitive'

In a radio interview with Radio-Canada on Tuesday, QuebecEducation Minister Marie Malavoy called the situation "sensitive"and one that must be taken seriously.

The Education Department had negotiated with the community overthe children's schooling, which is largely religious teaching, in anenvironment without proper permits.

Malavoy said the government offered compromises over the monthsbut the families chose to leave.

"Our biggest preoccupation is the plight of these children, thewell-being of these kids who are caught up in a situation for whichthey are not responsible," she said.

One expert on sects called the situation complex.

"Part of it is a need to understand how to deal with these kindsof closed groups," said Mike Kropveld, executive director ofMontreal-based Info-Cult.

"Dealing with them and then deciding what to do is far morecomplex than people want to believe or understand."

Kropveld says it is important to act without exacerbating thesituation. For example, he said if the leader is perceived as thesole representative of God, that person's power can be enhanced ifthe intervention of authorities is unsuccessful.

"You can make the group more closed and more extreme," Kropveld warned.

Lev Tahor's origins

The Lev Tahor, which means "pure heart," came to Canada in 2005after their spiritual leader, Rabbi Shlomo Elbarnes, was grantedrefugee status here.

Members of the anti-Zionist group, which opposes Israel andadvocates Arab domination in the region, settled in a populartourist destination in the Laurentian mountains north of Montreal.

Elbarnes, who also goes by the last name Helbrans and is Nachman Helbrans's father, made headlines in the United States in 1994 whenhe was convicted of kidnapping a teenage boy. The boy was studyingunder him in Brooklyn.

After serving his sentence, Elbarnes was deported to Israel. Hethen entered Canada on a temporary visa.

A Federal Court ruling in 2005 upholding Elbarnes's refugee statusin Canada found he could not be considered safe in Israel, in partbecause his "religious belief and opinion are against the mereexistence of Israel as an independent country."

One Jewish rights organization called the group extreme and saidthat no one in the Jewish community be they traditional orultra-Orthodox would view the organization in a positive light.

"This group exhibits cult-like behaviour and is nothing morethan a perversion of Judaism," Frank Dimant of B'nai Brith Canadasaid in a statement.

"We are very much worried about the well-being of the childrenand have advised the social service and police authorities to ensure that they are properly cared for."