Police raided the home of a Jerusalem rabbi on Monday following a lengthy undercover investigation over his alleged role as an abusive cult leader.
The 60-year-old man allegedly led a house of horrors in which dozens of women and minors were held in improper conditions and were supposedly subject to slave-like abuse.
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According to court documents filed by the Israel Police, the suspect allegedly had "physical and psychological control over girls in his complex." Investigators said that "girls who were recruited to the cult initially got fair treatment and believed that they had found their home, but then, upon joining classes led by the suspect and his associates, they were forced to forgo personal wants, sever their ties with their friends and family and were threatened with hell and punishment."
The documents allege that some of the girls were forced to place their fingers in fire so that they could understand what hell feels like.
A Jerusalem court remanded the rabbi, who has not been named, for seven days.
