British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions

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Stamford Hill trust that passed £107,000 in 2025 to Kollel Chazon Ish

British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions

Logo Kollel Chazon Ish building Bnei Brak 2013.jpg
Building described on Wikimedia Commons as the Kollel Chazon Ish, Bnei Brak (2013). All the trust's 2025 grants (£107,000) were paid to Kollel Chazon Ish; the accounts do not give the kollel's location
Type Other
Founded 1983-05-16 (registered)
Registration ID Registered charity 286986
Headquarters London N16
Area served Israel


British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions was established by a declaration of trust of 21 April 1983 and registered on 16 May 1983; its only register area is Israel.[1] The trustees are David Lobenstein, Akiva Lobenstein and Aryeh Yehudah Melinek (the latter two from 11 March 2024), with a principal address in London N16; the examiner is Sugarwhite Meyer Accountants (PDF p.3).[1][2] The charity supports an organisation in Israel promoting Orthodox Judaism and education, "primarily, but not exclusively" the Chazon Ish institutions (PDF p.4).[2] In 2025 it received donations of £110,076 and made grants of £107,000 (2024: £174,800); "All grants were paid to Kollel Chazon Ish" (PDF p.7, 10).[2] David Lobenstein is a trustee of six other charities on the register, including Friends of Tashbar Chazon Ish and British Friends of Kupat Ha'ir; Aryeh Melinek is a trustee of six others.[1]

Objects and activities

The charity's registered objects read: "(I) SUCH ONE OR MORE CHARITIES, CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS OR CHARITABLE PURPOSES IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD AS THE TRUSTEES MAY FORM TIME TO TIME DETERMINE.(II) THE CHARITABLE PURPOSES OF THE INSTITUTIONS."[1]

The register describes its activities as: "Grants to educational institutions"[1]

Register classifications: General Charitable Purposes, Education/training, Religious Activities.[1]

Areas of operation recorded on the register: Israel.[1]

Trustees

Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[1]

Trustees of British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions (register, October 2026)
Trustee Appointed Chair Other trusteeships
David Lobenstein not recorded (Trust Property Held in Connexion With) Adath Yisroel Synagogue (207956); British Friends of Kupat Ha'ir (1092671); Fairholt Charity Trust (1170201); Friends of Tashbar Chazon Ish (1016187); The Friends of the Centre for Torah Education Trust (265502); Timatside Ltd (1062745); Uohc Supervision Ltd (1164378)
Aryeh Yehudah Melinek 2024-03-11 Ateres Beis Yaakov Limited (1189564); Friends of Orchos Torah (1178879); Gateshead Yeshiva Alumni Limited (261875); Havinenu (1207230); Legadel (1154487); Nafshainu (1197004); Nwlj Schools Planning Committee (1197033); The Bl Minyan (1169519); Veshinantom (1210828)
Akiva Lobenstein 2024-03-11 —

Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)

Trustees shown in archived register pages
Capture date Trustees listed Source
2011-09-20 David Lobenstein; Avronom Barnett; Moshe Eli Kruskal [3]
2021-01-15 Avronom Barnett; David Lobenstein – also trustee of (Trust Property Held in Connexion With) Adath Yisroel Synagogue, British Friends of Kupat Ha'ir, Fairholt Charity Trust, Uohc Supervision Ltd, Friends of Tashbar Chazon Ish, Friends of Ccs [4]

Finances

Income and expenditure, five most recent reported years
Financial year end Income Expenditure
2021-12-31 £22,448 £22,540
2022-12-31 £48,620 £43,660
2023-12-31 £204,121 £108,305
2024-12-31 £75,863 £176,630
2025-12-31 £110,076 £107,910

Source: register annual-return history.[1]

Archived accounts

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

  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2005[5]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2006[6]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2007[7]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2008[8]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2009[9]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2014[10]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2015[11]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2016[12]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2017[13]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2018[14]

Funding in Israel

  • FY2025 grants £107,000 (2024: £174,800), all to Kollel Chazon Ish (PDF p.7, 10).[2]

Israeli partners

Kollel Chazon Ish; the accounts do not give its location (PDF p.10).[2] A Wikimedia Commons photograph captioned as the Kollel Chazon Ish building is filed under "Yeshivas in Bnei Brak".[15]

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 do not locate Kollel Chazon Ish; a Commons photograph places a Kollel Chazon Ish building in Bnei Brak, inside the Green Line, but does not establish that this is the grantee (PDF p.10).[2][15] Low

Support for the IDF: No IDF or military funding is stated.[2]

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;[16] 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.[17][18][19][20] 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.[21]
  • Minimal reserves. Funds stood at £2,817 at the end of 2025 (2024: £651), the charity having passed on almost all of its income (PDF p.4, 7).[2]

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).[22] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[23]

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.[24]

Grants recorded by 360Giving

No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[25]

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.[26]

Land and property

The register records that the charity does not own or lease land or property.[1] No title registers were purchased; the HM Land Registry interactive search blocked automated access.[27]

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 the Chazon Ish Institution", "Chazon Ish Institution" returned 0 contributions in total.[28]

Web archive

The UK Government Web Archive holds 2 archived Charity Commission register pages used in this profile (cited in the sections above). The 2021 archived full print showed the status "Charity reporting is up to date" and "Other regulators: No information available".[4]

External links

  • No current official website.

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 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.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Charity Commission, British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions (286986): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 16 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
  3. ↑ Register entry 286986, contact and trustees (capture of 20110920) UK Government Web Archive.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Register entry 286986, full print (capture of 20210115) UK Government Web Archive.
  5. ↑ British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions accounts, year ended 2005-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20110920).
  6. ↑ British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions accounts, year ended 2006-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20110920).
  7. ↑ British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions accounts, year ended 2007-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20110920).
  8. ↑ British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions accounts, year ended 2008-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20110920).
  9. ↑ British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions accounts, year ended 2009-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20110920).
  10. ↑ British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions accounts, year ended 2014-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  11. ↑ British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions accounts, year ended 2015-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  12. ↑ British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions accounts, year ended 2016-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  13. ↑ British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions accounts, year ended 2017-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  14. ↑ British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions accounts, year ended 2018-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Wikimedia Commons, File:כולל חזון איש.jpg (description "מבנה כולל חזון איש" – the Kollel Chazon Ish building; derived from the file "Zichron Meir neighborhood in Bnei Brak"; category "Yeshivas in Bnei Brak"; photograph by Avi1111 dr. avishai teicher, 21 February 2013), retrieved 16 October 2026.
  16. ↑ 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".
  17. ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
  18. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
  19. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
  20. ↑ 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).
  21. ↑ 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").
  22. ↑ 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.
  23. ↑ 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).
  24. ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Chazon Ish Institutions' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
  25. ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-286986 360Giving, queried 16 October 2026.
  26. ↑ 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.
  27. ↑ 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.
  28. ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Chazon Ish Institutions" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).
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