Friends of the Centre for Torah Education Trust

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Salford trust that paid £40,450 in 2024/25 to Merkaz Lechinuch Torani, an Orthodox Jewish education organisation in Israel; one of its two trustees is also its chief executive

Friends of the Centre for Torah Education Trust

Type Trust
Founded 1973-04-05 (registered)
Registration ID Registered charity 265502
Headquarters Salford M7
Area served Israel


Friends of the Centre for Torah Education Trust (registered as The Friends of the Centre for Torah Education Trust) was established by a trust deed of 15 February 1973 and registered on 5 April 1973; its address is in Salford M7.[1][2] Its objects are "To assist any organization in Israel whose sole purpose is to promote orthodox Jewish religious education. The Charity raises funds in the UK to be used primarily but not exclusively to support the organization in Israel."[2] The accounts for the year to 31 March 2025 name the trustees as Rabbi S Geller and D Lobenstein, with D Lobenstein also "Chief Executive Officer"; the register lists Rabbi Shmuel Geller (from 4 March 2019) and David Lobenstein.[2][3] Donations were £45,732 (2024: £34,453); donations made were £40,450 (2024: £34,850), all to "Merkaz Lechinuch Torani" according to note 2, and the report says the charity "paid over £40,000 to support the organisation in Israel"; administration cost £435 and funds rose from £2,357 to £7,204.[2] The accounts were examined by B Olsberg FCA of Manchester M8 and signed by Rabbi S Geller on 28 January 2026.[2]

Objects and activities

The charity's registered objects read: "THE FURTHERANCE AND PROMOTION OF THE JEWISH RELIGION AND JEWISH RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN SUCH PROPORTIONS AND IN SUCH MANNER AS THE TRUSTEES MAY FROM TIME TO TIME THINK FIT."[3]

The register describes its activities as: "The Charity collects funds to support a college in Israel which is involved in furthering the orthodox Jewish religion and education"[3]

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

Areas of operation recorded on the register: Israel.[3]

Trustees

Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[3]

Trustees of Friends of the Centre for Torah Education Trust (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); British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions (286986); Fairholt Charity Trust (1170201); Friends of Tashbar Chazon Ish (1016187); Timatside Ltd (1062745); Uohc Supervision Ltd (1164378)
Shmuel Geller 2019-03-04 —

Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)

Trustees shown in archived register pages
Capture date Trustees listed Source
2021-01-11 Shmuel Geller (from 04 March 2019); David Loebenstein [4]

David Lobenstein is also a register trustee of six other charities, including British Friends of Kupat Ha'ir (1092671), British Friends of the Chazon Ish Institutions (286986), Fairholt Charity Trust (1170201) and the trust property of the Adath Yisroel Synagogue (207956).[3] Land Registry records naming "The Organisation for the Support of Torah Education Limited" relate to a different body and are not attributed to this charity.[5]

Finances

Income and expenditure, five most recent reported years
Financial year end Income Expenditure
2021-03-31 £38,791 £37,405
2022-03-31 £47,855 £46,490
2023-03-31 £32,660 £34,020
2024-03-31 £34,453 £35,360
2025-03-31 £45,732 £40,885

Source: register annual-return history.[3]

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]

Funding in Israel

  • Year to 31 March 2025: £40,450 to Merkaz Lechinuch Torani (2024: £34,850 in donations).[2]

Israeli partners

Merkaz Lechinuch Torani, described only as "the organisation in Israel"; no address or registration number is given.[2]

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 say only that the recipient is in Israel; no town or address is given.[2] Not established

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;[11] 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.[12][13][14][15] 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.[16]
  • Trustee as chief executive. David Lobenstein is both one of the two trustees and the "Chief Executive Officer"; the accounts do not say whether he is paid.[2]
  • Outdated framework and misprint. The accounts say they follow the Statement of Recommended Practice "issued in March 2005", and the 2023 funds brought forward are printed as "3264,".[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).[17] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[18]

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.[19]

Grants recorded by 360Giving

No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[20]

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.[21]

Land and property

The register records that the charity does not own or lease land or property.[3] No title registers were purchased; the HM Land Registry interactive search blocked automated access.[22]

Parliament

Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Friends of the Centre for Torah Education", "The Friends of the Centre for Torah Education" returned 0 contributions in total.[23]

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. ↑ Charity Commission, The Friends of the Centre for Torah Education Trust (265502): full print Register of Charities, retrieved 16 October 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 Charity Commission, Friends of the Centre for Torah Education Trust (265502): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 16 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 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.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Register entry 265502, full print (capture of 20210111) UK Government Web Archive.
  5. ↑ HM Land Registry, UK companies that own property in England and Wales (CCOD) and Overseas companies that own property in England and Wales (OCOD) full extracts, October 2026 release, matched on the company numbers of the charitable companies in this batch and searched for distinctive charity-name keywords; no title registers were purchased.
  6. ↑ Friends of the Centre for Torah Education Trust accounts, year ended 2014-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  7. ↑ Friends of the Centre for Torah Education Trust accounts, year ended 2015-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  8. ↑ Friends of the Centre for Torah Education Trust accounts, year ended 2016-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  9. ↑ Friends of the Centre for Torah Education Trust accounts, year ended 2017-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  10. ↑ Friends of the Centre for Torah Education Trust accounts, year ended 2018-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  11. ↑ 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-23 charities, all retrieved on 16 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" notice; none was shown.
  12. ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
  13. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
  14. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
  15. ↑ 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).
  16. ↑ 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").
  17. ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, export dated 14 October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-23 charity names found no matching Scottish registration.
  18. ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 16 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-23 charity names returned zero results).
  19. ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Friends of the Centre for Torah Education' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
  20. ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-265502 360Giving, queried 16 October 2026.
  21. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-23 screening covered 249 name strings: the 25 charity names and their other names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, trustees, officers and other people named in the accounts and websites read for this batch, and the Companies House officers of the charitable companies; the only hits were generic words (such as "Trust", "Company Limited" in the name of a corporate formation agent, and ".com") and surname-only matches, which were rejected; no person matched. Screened 16 October 2026.
  22. ↑ 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.
  23. ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Friends of the Centre for Torah Education" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).
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