The wanderings of the Lev Tahor cult continue; around 40 of their number have arrived in Sarajevo, the largest city in Bosnia-Herzegovina, according to Behadrey Haredim. It is assumed that the country’s Interior Ministry has given the group a 90-day permit to remain; at the end of this period, according to Bosnian law, they will have to either leave or request asylum.
The arrival of the cult’s members has not passed without comment. Media reports have described the group and related something of its history, and a number of local residents have expressed their concerns.
“The women wear burkas – they’re completely covered up, and the girls too,” one local resident told a journalist. “The men and boys dress the same. They watch us the whole time – every time I open the front door, I feel like someone’s watching me from the balcony above or from a nearby courtyard. I’m very worried, and we’re also worried about our children.”
The resident added, “I can’t even explain in words what the atmosphere is like around them. Sometimes we can hear them singing religious songs in their homes, songs that sound chilling, sung by children but it sounds like they’re sung by adults in a strange spiritual state.”
The group has rented two houses in the neighborhood. “They look strange,” a media report describes. “They wear special clothing and behave in a bizarre manner. They pray all day long and stare at anyone who passes by.”
Many Sarajevo locals have done some investigation on the internet and discovered that the group belongs to the Lev Tahor cult. “We found out that they belong to an extremist sect. It looks like they don’t treat their children very well,” the neighbor said, while admitting, “They haven’t done anything wrong while they’ve been here, and the government has checked them out and they don’t have any criminal record with Interpol or any other similar agency. But we’re still worried.”
Members of Lev Tahor have been wandering from one country to another for years. One group recently left Guatemala for Kurdistan; others attempted to obtain permission to settle in Iran, but have received no official response. Likewise, their attempt to Kurdistan met with failure, even though they tried to keep it secret. According to Lev Tahor leaders, their failures to obtain permission to settle in various countries is due to the interference of government officials in Israel and the United States.
