Some of the women said they had been sexually exploited and now had young children, aged between 12 months and five years, who were regularly taken away and held in seclusion, the newspaper said.
“What happened at the seminar was not Torah-learning,” a police representative said during Monday’s court hearing.
“The girls learned to obey the cult leader. They invited women to Shabbat meals. The rabbi knows how to talk to women. Slowly they scared them and separated them from their families.”
Mr Ramati, whose status as a rabbi is unclear, was arrested on suspicion of similar crimes in four years ago, Haaretz reported, but was released after women in his compound testified on his behalf.
This week’s arrest took place after women at the seminary reported fresh allegations to the police.
Speaking outside a Jerusalem court on Monday, Mr Ramat said the allegations were “beyond nonsense” and “ludicrous”, adding: “Nobody believes this is true.”
Of the children discovered by police in the compound, he said it was “maybe my grandchildren who came for a visit.”
