Friends of Wiznitz Limited

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Principal UK grant-maker for the Vizhnitz court; charity 255685 / company 00929964; operates in Hackney, Haringey, Israel and the United States; year to March 2025 income £4.73 million

Friends of Wiznitz Limited

Type Charitable company limited by guarantee
Founded 2 April 1968 (company); charity registered 22 April 1968[1]
Registration ID Charity 255685 (Charity Commission); company 00929964
Status Active; reporting up to date; not recognised by HMRC for Gift Aid
Headquarters First Floor, 94 Stamford Hill, London N16 6XS
Location Stamford Hill, Hackney
Area served Hackney; Haringey; Israel; United States[2]
Services Grants to institutions and individuals for Orthodox Jewish education, religion and relief of poverty; use of a building as a school
Registration England and Wales
Key people Shulom Feldman; Ephraim Gottesfeld; Barry Feldman
Remarks Year to 31 March 2025: income £4,734,350; expenditure £4,526,324; investment gains £728,839; three trustees; two volunteers.[2]


Friends of Wiznitz Limited is the principal UK charitable company of the Vizhnitz (Wiznitz / Vishnitz) Hasidic court. It was incorporated on 2 April 1968 and registered as charity 255685 on 22 April 1968. The registered office is First Floor, 94 Stamford Hill, London N16 6XS.[1][2]

The Commission describes its activity as supporting Orthodox Jewish religious education, the advancement of the Orthodox Jewish religion and the relief of poverty by grant-making to institutions and individuals and by allowing the use of a building as a school. Operating areas on the register are Hackney, Haringey, Israel and the United States. Published filings do not split “Israel” between the Green Line and occupied territory.[2]

Objects and activities

The charity's registered objects read: "TO FURTHER THOSE PURPOSES BOTH IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND ABROAD RECOGNISED AS CHARITABLE BY ENGLISH LAW."[3]

The register describes its activities as: "Supporting Orthodox Jewish religious education, the advancement of the Orthodox Jewish Religion and the relief of poverty by grant-making to institutions and individuals and allowing the use of a building as a school."[3]

Register classifications: Education/training, The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty, Religious Activities.[3]

Areas of operation recorded on the register: Hackney, Haringey, Israel, United States.[3]

Finances

Income and expenditure (years to 31 March)
Year Income Expenditure
2021 £4.22m £7.02m
2022 £2.96m £2.67m
2023 £5.39m £4.64m
2024 £4.94m £5.18m
2025 £4.73m £4.53m

In 2024/25 almost all income was donations and legacies (£4.54m), plus investment income £174k and other trading £22k. Charitable expenditure was £4.49m. There were no paid staff over £60,000 and no trading subsidiaries. No government grants or contracts are recorded on the Commission return for these years.[2]

Historical finances (UK Government Web Archive)

Income and spending shown on archived register pages
Financial year end Income (£) Spending (£) Source
31 Mar 2006 597,151 567,708 [4]
31 Mar 2007 1,199,240 1,210,323 [4]
31 Mar 2008 1,477,859 833,078 [4]
31 Mar 2009 580,241 600,400 [4]
31 Mar 2010 713,961 756,429 [4]
31 Mar 2011 1,004,310 913,621 [5]

Archived accounts

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

  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2007[6]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2008[7]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2009[8]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2010[9]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2011[10]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2014[11]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2015[12]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2016[13]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2017[14]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2018[15]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2019[16]

Trustees and directors

The same three men sit as Charity Commission trustees and as Companies House directors. Occupations on secondary directories: Barry Feldman, company director; Shulom Feldman, company director; Ephraim Gottesfeld, property developer.[17]

Charity Commission trustees (255685)
Name Role Appointed Other trusteeships (Commission)
Barry Feldman Trustee 10 April 2022 Entwood Charities Limited; Berest Charities; Beis Efraim; The Well Trust Limited
Ephraim Gottesfeld Trustee 3 March 2014 Parkwill Limited; C.M.A. Community Nursery Ltd; YHF Trust; Berest Charities
Shulom Feldman Trustee (no appointment date on Commission list) Suncroft Donations Trust; North London Charities Ltd; Ahavath Chessed Charitable Association Limited; Birchas Moshe Trust; YHF Trust; The Well Trust Limited; Ahavas Shalom Trust; Beis Efraim
Companies House officers (00929964) — 8 officers / 5 resignations
Name Role Appointed Resigned DoB (register) Nationality Address on file
Barry Feldman Director (active) 10 April 2022 — February 1964 British 5 Portland Avenue, London N16 6HA
Shulom Feldman Director (active) (long-standing; on 1991 return) — January 1957 British 46a Clapton Common, London E5 9BA
Ephraim Gottesfeld Director (active) 1 January 2014 — July 1958 British 22 Lampard Grove, London N16 6XB
Heinrich Feldman Director (1991 return) 23 March 2022 November 1935 British —
Judah Feldman Director 1 January 2014 15 April 2017 August 1967 British —
Ralph Raphael Bergman Director (1991 return) 1 January 2014 December 1943 British —
Elias Kahan Director (1991 return) 15 December 2012 July 1928 British 46 Queen Elizabeth Walk, London N16
Elias Kahan Secretary (1991 return) 15 December 2012 (termination filed 3 August 2022) July 1928 British 46 Queen Elizabeth Walk, London N16

[18]

Gottesfeld’s Lampard Grove address is next to Talmud Torah Chaim Meirim Wiznitz School at 26 Lampard Grove. He is chair of the school’s proprietor, C.M.A. Community Nursery Ltd (charity 1083392).[2]

Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)

Trustees shown in archived register pages
Capture date Trustees listed Source
2011-01-23 Heinrich Feldman Shulom Feldman; Ralph Bergman; Elias Kahan [19]
2012-05-04 Heinrich Feldman Shulom Feldman; Ralph Bergman; Elias Kahan [20]
2021-01-15 Heinrich Feldman – also trustee of The Well Trust Limited, North London Charities Ltd, The Schonfeld Square Foundation, Amhurst Park Education and Donations, Entwood Charities Limited, Beis Efraim, Birchas Moshe Trust, Ahavath Chessed Charitable Association Limited, Suncroft Donations Trust, Keren Hatorah, The Viznitz (Keren Nitzchi) Foundation, Agudas Israel Organisation of Great Britain, Centurian Charities Limited; Shulom Feldman – also trustee of Yhf Trust, North London Charities Ltd, Beis Efraim, Birchas Moshe Trust, Ahavath Chessed Charitable Association Limited, Suncroft Donations Trust; Ephraim GOTTESFELD (from 03 March 2014) – also trustee of Yhf Trust, C.m.a. Community Nursery Ltd, Berest Charities [21]

Companies House officers

Companies House lists 8 current and former officers of the charitable company (00929964), 3 of them active.[22]

Funding in Israel

  • Grants include Mosdos Viznitz £1,554,085; Lehachzikom Velehachyosom £845,200; CMZ £105,000.[23]

Israeli partners

Viznitz institutions (Israel/UK); register areas Israel and United States.[23]

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
Mosdos Viznitz typically denotes Israeli Viznitz institutions; specific settlement sites not itemised.[23] low

Support for the IDF: No IDF funding is stated.[23]

Controversies and regulatory action

  • No Commission inquiry naming Friends of Wiznitz Limited was found. It received £508,709 from CMZ Ltd in FY2025 and £57,000 from SF Foundation in FY2024.[23]

Other registers and records

Scotland and Northern Ireland

No entry was found on the Scottish Charity Register for this charity (full register download of 14 October 2026 searched by name).[24] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[25]

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; results were limited to Companies House filing lists.[26]

Grants recorded by 360Giving

Grants received (360Giving data)
Date Funder Amount (£) Purpose
2011-12-15 The National Lottery Community Fund 9,975 This is a project by a charity in Hackney. The group will use funding to provide an education and outdoor activity trip for disadvantaged Or
2014-08-13 The National Lottery Community Fund 10,000 Not Available
2022-02-04 The National Lottery Community Fund 10,000 The funding will be used to build a play area for children. The project aims to provide a safe fun play area for children who are from low-i

No grants made by the charity are published in 360Giving data, so flows between linked charities could not be traced there.[27]

Sanctions screening

The names of current and archived trustees and Companies House officers were screened against the UK Sanctions List and the OFSI Consolidated List. No match on full name was found; only coincidental surname matches.[28]

Land and property

The register records that the charity owns and/or leases land or property.[3] No title registers were purchased.[29] Candidate titles and addresses (CCOD dataset and register/accounts data):[30]

  • 45 Bruce Grove, London N17 6RN (title MX173483, price paid £626,000 in 2023) – CCOD match on company 00929964 (source: [30])
  • 24 Lampard Grove, London N16 6XB (title AGL244374) – CCOD match (source: [30])
  • Flat A, 49 Reighton Road, London E5 8SQ (title AGL430271, £312,000) – CCOD match (source: [30])

Parliament

A search of Hansard for 'Friends of Wiznitz' returned 0 contributions in total.[31]

Web archive

The UK Government Web Archive holds 5 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".[21]

Court and Israel

Friends of Wiznitz is the London cash pipe for Vizhnitz institutions: grants plus a building used as a school. Related UK vehicles include Viznitz Institutions Trust (1073284; Commission work in Israel), The Viznitz (Keren Nitzchi) Foundation (326581; Israel and the United States), Kollel Imrei Chaim Wiznitz Trust (1122005) and the Salford girls’ charity Bnos Margulis Wiznitz (1188500).

Vizhnitz in Israel is Agudah / United Torah Judaism, not Satmar. Households sit in the Haredi housing market, including towns over the Green Line. This charity’s register names Israel as an operating area; it does not publish a Green Line / occupied-territory split of grants.

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Companies House, FRIENDS OF WIZNITZ LIMITED, company 00929964.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Charity Commission, Friends of Wiznitz Limited, 255685.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 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), extract dated 14 October 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Register entry 255685, financial history (capture of 20110123) UK Government Web Archive.
  5. ↑ Register entry 255685, financial history (capture of 20120504) UK Government Web Archive.
  6. ↑ Friends of Wiznitz Limited accounts, year ended 2007-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20120504).
  7. ↑ Friends of Wiznitz Limited accounts, year ended 2008-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20120504).
  8. ↑ Friends of Wiznitz Limited accounts, year ended 2009-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20120504).
  9. ↑ Friends of Wiznitz Limited accounts, year ended 2010-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20120504).
  10. ↑ Friends of Wiznitz Limited accounts, year ended 2011-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20120504).
  11. ↑ Friends of Wiznitz Limited accounts, year ended 2014-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200107).
  12. ↑ Friends of Wiznitz Limited accounts, year ended 2015-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200703).
  13. ↑ Friends of Wiznitz Limited accounts, year ended 2016-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200703).
  14. ↑ Friends of Wiznitz Limited accounts, year ended 2017-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200703).
  15. ↑ Friends of Wiznitz Limited accounts, year ended 2018-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200703).
  16. ↑ Friends of Wiznitz Limited accounts, year ended 2019-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200703).
  17. ↑ Giving is Great, Friends of Wiznitz Limited factsheet.
  18. ↑ Companies House, FRIENDS OF WIZNITZ LIMITED people.
  19. ↑ Register entry 255685, contact and trustees (capture of 20110123) UK Government Web Archive.
  20. ↑ Register entry 255685, contact and trustees (capture of 20120504) UK Government Web Archive.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Register entry 255685, full print (capture of 20210115) UK Government Web Archive.
  22. ↑ Company 00929964: officers Companies House, viewed 14 October 2026.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 Charity Commission, Friends of Wiznitz Limited (255685): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 14 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
  24. ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, CharityExport-14-Oct-2026.csv, downloaded 14 October 2026; keyword search of charity names for the batch found no matching Scottish registration (the only hit for "breakthrough" was Breakthrough Breast Cancer SC039058, unrelated).
  25. ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 14 October 2026 (keyword searches for each batch charity name returned zero results).
  26. ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Friends of Wiznitz' The Gazette, searched 14 October 2026.
  27. ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-255685 360Giving, queried 14 October 2026.
  28. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV, version of 12 October 2026); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv, last updated 3 June 2026). Screening of 405 names (current and archived trustees and Companies House officers of the 25 batch-1 charities) carried out 14 October 2026.
  29. ↑ HM Land Registry, Search for land and property information GOV.UK, accessed 14 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.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 HM Land Registry, UK companies that own property in England and Wales (CCOD) full extract, October 2026 release, matched on charitable company numbers and registered names; title numbers listed are candidates only – no title registers were purchased.
  31. ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching 'Friends of Wiznitz' Hansard, queried 14 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints).
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