A woman who grew up in a Hasidic Jewish community where she was taught that her only goal should be to “have as many children as possible” has told of her harrowing escape after being “sold” by her own parents to an “abusive” husband.

Beatrice Weber grew up in an “ultra-orthodox” Jewish community in Canada, where she was told that her “sole purpose in life” should be to be a wife and mother.

When she was 18, her parents “sold” her for a “huge price” to a rabbi’s grandson, who soon became her husband.

Together they had 10 children, but after years of horrific ‘manipulation’ and ‘abuse’, Beatrice gathered the strength to escape.

Her path to freedom would not be easy, however, as she had to battle her ex-husband in court for more than a decade to gain custody of several of her children.

A woman who grew up in a Hasidic Jewish community where she was taught her only goal should be to ‘have as many children as possible’ has told of her shocking escape

To make matters worse, the rabbis in her community turned completely against her, painting her in court as a “terrible mother” as she fought for her ex.

She recently spoke about this horrific ordeal during an appearance on the Cults to Consciousness podcast.

Speaking to presenter Shelise Ann Shola, Beatrice described her ex-husband as a “very controlling and manipulative person”.

She said “patriarchal and misogynistic attitudes” were common in her community and the women were given a “strict set of rules” to follow, from how they dressed to what they could eat.

“You’re taught that you’re hurting men (if you dress provocatively) and that men are predators,” she explained.

‘You always have to be the one responsible for protecting your own body and that feels so scary.

‘If I go out sleeveless, I thought I would attract all those horrible men. That was super hard for me.

“You are also told that (non-kosher) food will contaminate your soul and you will never recover from it.”

At the age of 18, she ‘sold’ her parents to a man who became her husband. But after years of terrible ‘manipulation’ and ‘abuse’, she built up the strength to escape

In April 2014, Beatrice fled her home in the middle of the night with her four youngest children and went to live with her brother.

Unfortunately, she explained, she had to leave the older children behind because they already had the same mentality as their father.

“I had to take out protection orders against my two oldest sons (18 and 20 years old) because I was so scared. I was scared of them, they had threatened me before I left,” she recalled.

She filed for divorce and sought custody of the younger children, little knowing that this would mean a long battle to free them from her ex-husband’s clutches.

Beatrice was forced to take him on alone, as her own family ultimately sided with him, as going to court went against what their society had taught them.

“It was very clear that if I went to court, I would be doing it all by myself,” she said.

“But I did it and I’m so grateful when I think back to the times when I was so alone and so scared… because I’m so proud of myself for having the courage to do it anyway.”

Beatrice said her parents advised her to drop the lawsuit and let the rabbis decide after she spent all her money on legal fees.

“I believed the rabbis would support me because I believed they knew he was abusing me,” she explained. “I trusted them.”

She recently spoke about the horrific ordeal during an appearance on the Cults to Consciousness podcast

While she said she has now “processed” everything she’s been through thanks to therapy, she admitted she spent years “blaming myself.” She has seen some of her children

But the rabbis sided with her ex-husband and did everything they could to ruin her chances of getting custody of her children.

“It was horrible. I can’t even describe the manipulation,” she recalled. “They were like, ‘We’re going to send you to a psychiatrist to evaluate you, but it has to be our psychiatrist.’

‘Eventually, after a year and a half, they decided that my ex-husband should have all the children.’

She said they submitted their ruling to the court, in which they described her as a “terrible mother”.

Beatrice added: ‘It put me in the worst light.’

But she didn’t give up and took her ex-husband to court again. They ended up fighting with him for over a decade before she finally got full custody of her youngest children.

Beatrice explained that she initially had no intention of leaving the community and only wanted to divorce her husband. However, she said the incident with the rabbis led her to leave the Hasidic community altogether.

“My experience with the rabbis showed me a side of the community that I could no longer ignore. I could not ignore the corruption and the manipulation,” she continued. “I could not live with those rules (anymore).

“I was just so angry at the idea that these rabbis that I trusted, that knew me and knew what was going on, were willing to take all the children away from me. I was just completely devastated and angry.”

In 2018, she officially left the community and moved to New York City.

“It’s an oppressive community that people are trapped in… I’m grateful for every day that I’m free,” she added.

“I am my own person. I am not afraid that I will do something wrong, that I will be punished or that something bad will happen to me.”

Beatrice says she is now grateful for the little things she couldn’t do before, like adopting a pet, wearing her hair down and taking up new hobbies.

Unfortunately, her relationship with some of her older children is still troubled.

“I had to block some of my kids’ numbers because of the kind of messages they were sending me,” she admitted.

‘One of my sons recently got married and I went to the wedding, but at the wedding one of my sons started kicking me. They couldn’t stand me being there, it was very, very painful.’

She says therapy has helped her “process” everything she went through, but she admits she spent years “blaming myself.”

“For years I really blamed myself. Like, ‘Why didn’t I leave sooner?’ Or, ‘Why couldn’t I have done something different?'” she said.

“But I was in an impossible situation. I was stuck. I realize now that the fact that I was able to leave and keep most of the children with me is not something that can be taken for granted.”