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7 Nov, 10 tweets, 5 min read
For 15 years, Mendy Levy lived in the extremist Jewish cult Lev Tahor, which fled from Canada to Guatemala in the wake of a child abuse investigation.

He plotted his escape and now lives his life as a normal Jewish teenager.

This is his story: insider.com/lev-tahor-jewi…
Lev Tahor has been around for a few decades. It was founded by Shlomo Helbrans, who drowned in a river in Guatemala in 2017. Under his son, Nachman Helbrans, it's gotten worse. insider.com/lev-tahor-jewi…
Theologically, Lev Tahor is unlike any branch of Judaism.

They read the Torah, yes. But they eschew every other Jewish text. No Talmud. No Rashi. The only commentary they study is the one Shlomo Helbrans wrote himself.

insider.com/lev-tahor-jewi…
If you find a pamphlet from Chabad, they'll burn it. insider.com/lev-tahor-jewi…
Here's one incident seared in Mendy's memory:

insider.com/lev-tahor-jewi…
Mendy decided to leave when Shlomo Helbrans told him to marry a 12-year-old girl.

It took a little longer to actually get out of there. Eventually, he reached the Canadian embassy in Guatemala. insider.com/lev-tahor-jewi…
Canada's child welfare apparatus didn't treat him too well. He bounced around homes for a few years until he was taken in by Lavi and Bryndel Klein, a wonderful Chabad couple in Montreal who gave him a home.

insider.com/lev-tahor-jewi…
In Lev Tahor, Mendy got virtually no education. He didn't know 4+4. He barely understood what the Holocaust was.

insider.com/lev-tahor-jewi…
When I asked Mendy about Lev Tahor's "Jewish Taliban" nickname, he was puzzled, because he didn't really know anything about 9/11 or the war in Afghanistan. insider.com/lev-tahor-jewi…
Now Mendy is, frankly, thriving. You can also follow him on Instagram! instagram.com/mendy.levy/

insider.com/lev-tahor-jewi…

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More from @JayShams

Jacob Shamsian Profile picture
9 Aug
At the R. Kelly trial jury selection. One prospective juror said he thought this whole thing was about R. Crumb, the cartoonist.
I haven't seen @JimDeRogatis here, to my surprise!
Another prospective juror said this morning that he was an aspiring fashion illustrator. When the judge asked about his hobbies, he answered simply "YouTube."
Read 8 tweets
Jacob Shamsian Profile picture
14 May
EXCLUSIVE: Leaked intelligence memos from the FBI and DC police detail a plan from the Boogaloo Bois to attack the White House, Lincoln Monument, and other DC landmarks ahead of Biden's inauguration.

It was called "Operation Stormbreaker."
insider.com/leaked-police-…
The Boogaloo Bois anticipate — and in many cases want to incite — a second Civil War in the US.

Their plan involved attacks on major DC civic institutions, and even involved a map and target list. insider.com/leaked-police-…
The plans were scrapped a few days before they were supposed to be set into motion. It's not clear if they were more elaborate than what the FBI and MPD included in the memos. insider.com/leaked-police-…
Read 4 tweets
Jacob Shamsian Profile picture
25 Mar
NEW: I spoke to Jennifer Weisselberg, a cooperating witness in the Manhattan DA and NYAG investigations into Trump.

She says she's given them 7 boxes of documents and spoken to Mark Pomerantz several times.

businessinsider.com/manhattan-da-t…
Jennifer Weisselberg said the Trump Organization gives employees apartments and pays their kids tuition instead of raises as a way to control them.

"They want you to do crimes and not talk about it and don't leave," she said. "It's so controlling." businessinsider.com/manhattan-da-t…
Weisselberg told me the Manhattan DA's office sent a forensic accountant with experience analyzing mob finances to look at the Trump Organization documents in her possession. businessinsider.com/manhattan-da-t…
Read 6 tweets
Jacob Shamsian Profile picture
24 Mar
An Oath Keepers member bragged about organizing an 'alliance' with the Proud Boys and Three Percenters ahead of the Capitol riot in Facebook messages obtained by prosecutors. insider.com/oath-keepers-a…
"This week I organized an alliance between Oath Keepers, Florida 3%ers, and Proud Boys. We have decided to work together and shut this shit down," Meggs wrote in Facebook messages, according to the filing. insider.com/oath-keepers-a…
This is the same dude whose wife says her court hearings should be delayed because her wedding ring is stuck. insider.com/oath-keeper-ca…
Read 4 tweets
Jacob Shamsian Profile picture
23 Mar
The Justice Department is considering Civil War-era sedition charges against Capitol rioters.

Will prosecutors actually do it? That all depends on Merrick Garland. insider.com/sedition-charg…
The last time the DOJ brought sedition charges was in 1993, for the World Trade Center bombing.

It was such a rare move that SDNY prosecutors traveled to Washington, DC to convince Janet Reno to let them do it. insider.com/sedition-charg…
It's the rarity of the charges that make them so hard to prove.

Proving an assault charge is easy. Seditious conspiracy has few precedents. insider.com/sedition-charg…
Read 5 tweets
Jacob Shamsian Profile picture
23 Feb
NEW: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell says he's losing $65 million over election fraud claims

It's proof — contrary to Dominion's $1.3 billion defamation — that he's not pushing the fraud narrative for the money, he says.

businessinsider.com/mypillow-ceo-m…
"Lindell — a talented salesman and former professional card counter — sells the lie to this day because the lie sells pillows," Dominion lawyer Tom Clare wrote.

"I lost 20 retailers, and it's cost me $65 million this year," Lindell told me.

businessinsider.com/mypillow-ceo-m…
The lawsuit paints a portrait of Lindell using the election conspiracy theory to boost his pillow business: advertising on far-right media outlets, conspiratorial discount codes, and pages of social media posts from conspiracy-mongering customers.

businessinsider.com/mypillow-ceo-m…
Read 7 tweets

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