Meet Mordechay Malka

Mordechay Malka grew up in Lev Tahor. At age 15, he was assigned to marry, cult newcomer, Chaya Sara Weingarten - who was 24 years-old as the time.

Thirteen years later, on September 9, 2022, he was sentenced to 57 months in prison for playing a leading role in an elaborate kidnap and subsequent kidnap attempts in 2018.

On December 6, 2018 Mordechay Malka rented a vehicle. Working with numerous co-conspirators that included cult leader Nachman Helbrans (currently serving 12 years for his role in the abduction), they rented a motel room and purchased disguises. The Malkas smuggled drop phones to the 14-year-old girl and her 12-year-old brother.

Two days later, at around 3:00 in the morning, the children snuck out the house and into a waiting vehicle that drove them to Scranton airport, where Nachman Helbrans was waiting. Using passports belonging to Nachman’s children, they spent the day flying through several airports, eventually entering Mexico.

It took three weeks and over a hundred officers from law enforcement agencies in three countries to eventually track down the children in Mexico and reunite them with their mother. It was later discovered that Mordechay Malka was playing a "double agent" (as Mr. Helbrans related) pretending to help the FBI while secretly meeting up with co-conspirators to aid in them hiding from authorities.

In 2019 and 2021, Lev Tahor cult made two more attempts to kidnap the children.

During the Jury trial, in which Mr. Malka attempted to represent himself, the jury found him guilty on all charges, including conspiracy for kidnapping, international kidnapping, and attempted kidnapping.

During sentencing Mr. Malka said that his wife and children are currently living in New York as they seek a different path in life. His lawyer also requested that, should be be sentenced to prison time, that he not be together with other Lev Tahor leaders. But it is unclear whether he and his family actually exited the cult or if he only hinted to the fact in order to lessen his sentence.

Mordechay Malka is due to begin a three year supervised release from prison in early to mid 2024.

Meet Uriel Goldman

More than a spokesperson: he is suspected of being the driving force behind the cult.

NAME

Uriel Yosef Goldman (a.k.a. Feish Uriel Yosef Goldman)

OFFICIAL ROLE

Lev Tahor spokesperson.

ALSO SERVES AS

Fundraiser, suspected strategist and fixer

CURRENT STATUS

Helping Lev Tahor's jailed leaders fight legal battles and working to find a safe haven for the cult in countries like Iran.

NOTEWORTHY RELATIONSHIPS

Brother: Michael Yehuda Goldman (Lev Tahor teacher suspected of molestation and child abuse)

Son: Yisroel Yehuda Efraim Goldman (suspected to be involved in a kidnapping attempt)

BRIEF HISTORY

Uriel Goldman and his brother Michael Yehuda joined Lev Tahor when they were still in Israel. A former member of Bnei Akiva, Uriel’s intelligence, persuasiveness, and communication skills turned him into one of the cult’s leading fundraisers, their formal spokesperson, and an advisor to cult founder Shlomo Helbrans and the Hanhala (“administration”). He holds Israeli, American, and Argentinian citizenship.

As evidenced from numerous documentaries on Lev Tahor, Goldman is very active in backstage management. He is present in almost all formal media interviews, and can often be spotted behind the scenes, sometimes even communicating with those who have less experience speaking in front of cameras. He is also Lev Tahor’s chief correspondent with politicians and supporters, with leadership of various Chassidic communities, and both the English and Yiddish media.

As Lev Tahor’s top fundraiser, Goldman is skilful at adapting, adjusting, manipulating, and finding creative methods for the cult to raise millions of dollars through various business dealings and "creative" solicitation campaigns.

In the early years of the cult, Goldman claims to have urged Shlomo Helbrans to leave Israel before a possible government crackdown. After arrival in the United States and establishing a Lev Tahor Yeshiva, a parent brought a 12-year-old boy for Bar Mitzvah lessons and Shlomo Helbrans decided to remove/kidnap him from his family. Goldman was the one who paid the young teen’s travel expenses and a $5000 payment so Fhima could testify on Helbrans’ behalf during the kidnapping trial. Goldman was also caught on camera commanding inferiors to hide computers and other potential evidence.

In 2018, several weeks after Lev Tahor kidnapped two children, Goldman was detained by Mexican authorities together with several other members of Lev Tahor. He was flown to the United States and later released.

Goldman still travels for fundraising purposes and to try and establish connections with governments and religious Jewish leadership across the globe. He is an integral part of Lev Tahor’s operations and organization.

KNOWN FOR

After being released from a United States prison, cult founder Shlomo Helbrans was deported to Israel, where he would likely be investigated. Helbrans was granted political asylum in Canada based on Goldman’s sworn testimony that he had been sent by the Israeli government to infiltrate Lev Tahor. However, Goldman later admitted, in leaked audio from a phone call, that he had lied to Canadian authorities.

SUSPECTED OR ACCUSED OF

Lying to Canadian government authorities, money laundering, charity fraud, fundraising for Lev Tahor under the name of other organizations

IF YOU SEE HIM

Notify us so we can inform the public. You can send tips to us by email or on our website. Call us: +1718-751-0803. Whatsapp: +1845-262-4066.

Meet Matityau Malka

Matityau Moshe Malka is currently awaiting sentencing after being found guilty of a scheme to kidnap a 14-year-old girl and her 12-year-old brother from their mother.

In July 2017, Lev Tahor leader Shlomo Helbrans died under suspicious circumstances while immersing in a river near San Jeronimo, Mexico. His son Nachman formally took charge of the cult and shortly thereafter allegedly orchestrated the killing of his sister Miriam, urging her to prove her trust in him and eat a sesame dip, to which she was deathly allergic.

Two of Nachman's siblings (Nosson and Nechama) had already fled the cult. Only Yoel Heinich & Sara remained. Sara had married Aaron Arye Teller, dean of Lev Tahor's yeshiva, many years earlier.

Nachman's leadership began with a severe tightening of restrictions, according to reports from those who managed to escape the cult and testimony from Sara Teller. More food items were banned, and the age for marriage was dropped to 12. When Sara was notified that her 13-year-old daughter was to be married to a 19-year-old, she protested.

Hanhala responded by punishing Sara, forcing her to work as a maid and removing several children from her home. The marriage of her 13-year-old daughter went ahead. Reports from those who fled the cult also suggest that Aaron Arye may have been temporarily expelled to a home outside of their rural Guatemalan compound.

In October 2018, after forcibly working as a maid for over a year, Sara escaped the cult. She found refuge with friends in Guatemala City, former members of Lev Tahor trying to rebuild their lives, and after rescuing several of her other children, she made her way to the United States.

A short while later, Aron Arye Teller took the then-14-year-old girl and her 12-year-old brother to Mexico together with another Lev Tahor woman who posed as his wife and the mother of his children in order to get new passports. The two children were taken from Aron Arye and sent to the United States.

Around one month later, a Brooklyn court granted Sara sole custody of all her children. Aron Arye, who had refused to participate in the court proceedings, was prohibited from communicating with the children.

In December 2018, two months after Sara's escape, Matityau's cousin Mordechay Malka participated in the kidnapping of the two children, an elaborate scheme that involved drop phones, using aliases and fake travel documents, disguises and an encryption app. The kidnapping also took place on Shabbat and involved numerous cult members driving vehicles and flying across America, breaking Jewish religious laws.

It took three weeks for an international team of agents to locate and rescue the children from a San Miguel Tlaixpan, Mexico. They were returned to their mother in New York.

That's when Matityau was activated to organize a second kidnap attempt. Believed to be on the lower rungs of Lev Tahor's "hanhala" (administration), the 30-year-old acted as the operative on the ground, handing the 14-year-old several cell phones.

On June 2, 2022, Matityau was convicted of one count of conspiring to commit international parental kidnapping, to unlawfully use a means of identification, and to enter by false pretenses the secure area of an airport, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. He was also convicted of one count of attempted international parental kidnapping, which carries a maximum sentenced of three years of prison.

On September 7, 2022 Mr. Malka was sentenced in a New York court. The judge gave Mr. Malka, a 66-months sentence after he gave a discombobulated speech before the court. The speech included a plea that his sentence should be the same length as his “Rebbe” - Nachman Helbrans.