A Jew from the Lev Tahor community carries a stove on his back as he prepares to leave the Guatemalan village where his community had been based for just a few months.
The ultra-Orthodox Jews previously moved from Canada to Guatemala to find religious freedom, but have been forced out of their homes in a bitter conflict with hostile villagers.
29 Aug 2014 . San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala. REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez
Women and children board buses bound for the capital, Guatemala City, after weeks of friction with some of the local population.
Verbal abuse and threats to cut off power and eject them by force were the last straw for the Jews who began arriving in March from Canada, where the Lev Tahor group's strict religious ways had clashed with authorities.
24 Aug 2014 . San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala. REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez
Lev Tahor leader, Rabbi Uriel Goldman, who answered questions on behalf of the group, insisted most of the Guatemalan villagers were friendly toward the Lev Tahor’s black-clad men, women and children. But the group was pushed out by an aggressive minority motivated by local politics, he said.
24 Aug 2014 . San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala. REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez
Founded in the 1980s by Israeli Shlomo Helbrans, the Lev Tahor practice an austere form of Judaism. Eschewing technological trappings such as television and computers, daily life among the Lev Tahor is steeped in religion.
24 Aug 2014 . San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala. REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez
Miguel Vasquez Cholotio, a member of the elders' council, said the villagers decided to expel the group because they refused to greet or have physical contact with the community.
"We felt intimidated by them in the streets. We thought they wanted to change our religion and customs," he said.
29 Aug 2014 . San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala. REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez
The Lev Tahor community reject the state of Israel because it views the Jews as people in exile. They hope to find land elsewhere in Guatemala to build 30 houses to resettle the 200-odd strong community.