British Friends of Beth Medrosh Govoha

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Golders Green trust with a single trustee that remits its donations to the Beth Medrash Gevoha yeshiva in Jerusalem

British Friends of Beth Medrosh Govoha

Type Trust
Founded 1993-07-15 (registered)
Registration ID Registered charity 1023816
Headquarters London NW11
Area served Israel

British Friends of Beth Medrosh Govoha is a UK registered charity (no. 1023816). According to its page at the UK Charity Commission the charity exists to raise funds for the Beth Medrosh Govoha of America yeshiva.[1] The yeshiva is based in the illegal settlement of Ramot in occupied East Jerusalem.[2] [3]

History

The organisation became a registered charity in 1993.[4]

Objects and activities

The charity's registered objects read: "TO PROMOTE AND ADVANCE JEWISH RELIGIOUS EDUCATION"[5]

The register describes its activities as: "To raise funds for Yeshiva Beth Medrash Gevoha of America, a Talmudical College (Yeshiva) in Jerusalem, Israel."[5]

Register classifications: General Charitable Purposes, Education/training, Religious Activities.[5]

Areas of operation recorded on the register: Israel.[5]

Finances and Funding

Between 2010 and 2014 the charity spent £720,401.[1]

Latest figures (Charity Commission register)

Income and expenditure, five most recent reported years
Financial year end Income Expenditure
2021-03-31 £55,913 £77,400
2022-03-31 £57,396 £55,462
2023-03-31 £350,204 £228,287
2024-03-31 £602,540 £684,344
2025-03-31 £96,528 £143,736

Source: register annual-return history.[5]

Archived accounts

Accounts no longer on the live register were found in the UK Government Web Archive:

  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2014[6]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2015[7]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2016[8]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2017[9]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2018[10]

People

Board of Directors circa July 2015

Rabbi Yaakov Elizer Schwartzman

Current trustees (Charity Commission register, October 2026)

Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[5]

Trustees of British Friends of Beth Medrosh Govoha (register, October 2026)
Trustee Appointed Chair Other trusteeships
Y E Schwartzman not recorded —
Willy Godlewsky 2025-07-20 Tiferes Yisroel (1191518)

Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)

Trustees shown in archived register pages
Capture date Trustees listed Source
2021-07-05 Y E Schwartzman [11]

Funding in Israel

  • FY2025 grants £143,600 (2024: £684,176), all to Beth Medrash Gevoha in Jerusalem; "Funds are remitted to Beth Medrash Gevoha in Israel on a regular basis" (PDF p.4, 11).[12]

Israeli partners

Beth Medrash Gevoha, a yeshiva in Jerusalem (PDF p.4, 11).[12]

Activity beyond the Green Line and support for the IDF

Findings are graded by confidence. "Partner" findings concern the Israeli recipient organisation, not proven use of UK funds.

Evidence of activity beyond the 1949 armistice line
Finding Confidence
The accounts place the yeshiva in Jerusalem but give no address, so whether it is in East or West Jerusalem is not established (PDF p.4, 11).[12] Medium

Support for the IDF: No IDF or military funding is stated.[12]

Controversies and regulatory action

  • No Charity Commission inquiry, Official Warning or Gazette insolvency notice naming this charity was found, and its register entry shows no regulatory alert;[13] it is not among the charities named in the Commission's cheque-cashing class-inquiry announcements (May, September and December 2025) or in the September 2026 statement of results.[14][15][16][17] The charities in the Commission's settlements class inquiry (opened August 2026) have not been named, so it is not known whether this charity is among them.[18]
  • Single trustee. The charity was run by one trustee throughout 2024–25, although the report refers to induction "by the remaining Trustee" (PDF p.5).[12]

Other registers and records

Scotland and Northern Ireland

No entry was found on the Scottish Charity Register for this charity (register export dated 14 October 2026, searched by name).[19] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[20]

The Gazette

Searches of The Gazette notice feeds (all notices, insolvency and company) for the charity's name found no insolvency, winding-up or strike-off notice.[21]

Grants recorded by 360Giving

No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[22]

Sanctions screening

The charity's name, its current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, trustees and officers named in the accounts read for this profile and (for charitable companies) its Companies House officers were screened against the UK Sanctions List and the OFSI Consolidated List. No match was found. Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor (UK sanctions ID RUS1127) does not appear among this charity's trustees or officers.[23]

Land and property

The register records that the charity does not own or lease land or property.[5] No title registers were purchased; the HM Land Registry interactive search blocked automated access.[24]

US counterparts (ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer)

Organisation EIN Latest filing year Revenue (US$) Expenses (US$)

These US organisations share the name or beneficiary of the UK charity; no financial flows between them and the UK charity were established.

Parliament

Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Friends of Beth Medrosh Govoha", "Beth Medrosh Govoha" returned 0 contributions in total.[25]

Web archive

The UK Government Web Archive holds 1 archived Charity Commission register page used in this profile (cited in the sections above). The 2021 archived full print showed the status "Charity reporting is up to date (on time)" and "Other regulators: No information available".[11]

Contact

Address circa July 2015:

J.A. Englard FCA
49 Russell Gardens
London
NW11 9NJ
Phone: 020 8731 9327
Email: mail@cohenarnold.com

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Charity Commission Website Charity Overview. Accessed 6 July 2015.
  2. ↑ S.C. Mizrahi, 'Giving Torah Room to Grow: Beth Medrash Govoha of Eretz Yisroel-Lakewood to Celebrate the Groundbreaking for Its New Building on Chol Hamoed Succos', Dei'ah Ve Dibur, 15 September 1999, accessed 6 July 2015
  3. ↑ B'Tselem Website East Jerusalem. Accessed 6 July 2015.
  4. ↑ Charity Commission Website Charity Framework. Accessed 6 July 2015.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Charity Commission for England and Wales, Register of Charities public extract (tables charity, charity_trustee, charity_annual_return_history, charity_area_of_operation, charity_classification, charity_other_names), extract dated 14 October 2026.
  6. ↑ British Friends of Beth Medrosh Govoha accounts, year ended 2014-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200108).
  7. ↑ British Friends of Beth Medrosh Govoha accounts, year ended 2015-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200108).
  8. ↑ British Friends of Beth Medrosh Govoha accounts, year ended 2016-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200108).
  9. ↑ British Friends of Beth Medrosh Govoha accounts, year ended 2017-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200108).
  10. ↑ British Friends of Beth Medrosh Govoha accounts, year ended 2018-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200108).
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Register entry 1023816, full print (capture of 20210705) UK Government Web Archive.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Charity Commission, British Friends of Beth Medrosh Govoha (1023816): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 16 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
  13. ↑ Charity Commission, Register of Charities, charity overview page (register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/ followed by the organisation number) for each of the 25 batch-17 charities, all retrieved successfully on 16 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" section; none was shown for any of them. Seventeen registered charities showed "Charity reporting is up to date (on time)"; Starscope Limited showed "up to date (23 days late)", UK Friends of Tzohar "up to date (18 days late)" and The Mr W and Mrs I Carrant Charitable Trust "up to date (3 days late)"; BFON Trust showed no reporting-status line; Yeshiva Gedola Zichron Michoel, Friends of Reb Sender Dominitz, Emerald Benevolence Ltd and Academic Study Group showed "Removed charity".
  14. ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
  15. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
  16. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
  17. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator concludes investigation into 4 charities as class inquiry continues GOV.UK, 9 September 2026, with Statement of the results of a class inquiry (same date).
  18. ↑ Charity Commission, Charity regulator opens inquiry into charities working in illegal Israeli settlements GOV.UK, 5 August 2026 (a fact-finding statutory class inquiry initially involving 8 charities which "are not being publicly named at this time").
  19. ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, export dated 14 October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-17 charity names found no matching Scottish registration.
  20. ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 16 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-17 charity names returned no matching charity).
  21. ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Beth Medrosh Govoha' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
  22. ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-1023816 360Giving, queried 16 October 2026.
  23. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-17 screening covered 231 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, Companies House officers of the eight charitable companies, and trustees, examiners and other people and bodies named in the accounts and sources read for this batch; matching on surname plus forename tokens, reviewed manually. No forename-and-surname match for any person was found; token matches were surname-only coincidences (for example Rotenberg, Weiss, Levy and Cohen) or generic words such as "Ltd", "International", "Group" and "Team"; lists downloaded October 2026.
  24. ↑ HM Land Registry, Search for land and property information GOV.UK – the service returned HTTP 403 (bot protection) to automated access in October 2026; no titles were looked up or purchased. Candidate title numbers below come from the free CCOD / OCOD datasets (October 2026 release), not from paid title registers.
  25. ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Beth Medrosh Govoha" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).
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