Jewish Book Trust UK
North-west London trust for the publication and distribution of Jewish religious texts that gave £67,000 in 2024/25 to unnamed recipients and ended the year with negative funds covered by a £10,000 short-term loan
| Jewish Book Trust UK
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Trust |
| Founded | 2017-09-04 (registered) |
| Registration ID | Registered charity 1174482 |
| Headquarters | London NW4 |
| Area served | Throughout England And Wales, Israel, United States |
The Jewish Book Trust UK was established by a trust deed of 30 December 2016 and registered on 4 September 2017; its principal address is in London NW4 (PDF p.3).[1][2] Its aims are education in and understanding of the Jewish religion and culture through the restoration, production, translation, publication and/or distribution of religious texts (PDF p.3).[2] The trustees are Sol Unsdorfer, Malcolm Cohen and Benjamin Kon; the independent examiner is Isaac Hajioff of Clearfin Accountants (PDF p.4–5).[2] In the year to 31 March 2025 donations were £66,164 (2024: nil) and charitable spending £67,631, of which charitable donations were £67,000; funds moved from £421 to minus £1,022, "covered by a short-term loan" of £10,000 whose lender is not named (PDF p.3, 6, 8, 10).[2]
Objects and activities
The charity's registered objects read: "TO ADVANCE EDUCATION AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE JEWISH RELIGION AND CULTURE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC IN PARTICULAR, BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY, THROUGH THE RESTORATION, PRODUCTION, TRANSLATION, PUBLICATION AND/OR DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIOUS TEXTS AND OTHER LITERATURE WHETHER IN PRINT OR ELECTRONIC/DIGITAL FORMATS IN ORDER TO ENLIGHTEN OTHERS ABOUT THE JEWISH RELIGION AND CULTURE."[1]
The register describes its activities as: "The Charity aims to advance education and understanding of the Jewish religion and culture for the benefit of the public in particular, but not exclusively, through the restoration, production, translation, publication and/or distribution of religious texts and other literature whether in print or electronic/digital formats in order to enlighten others about the Jewish religion and culture."[1]
Register classifications: General Charitable Purposes, Education/training, Religious Activities, Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity.[1]
Areas of operation recorded on the register: Throughout England And Wales, Israel, United States.[1]
Trustees
Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[1]
| Trustee | Appointed | Chair | Other trusteeships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sol Unsdorfer | 2016-12-30 | British Friends of the Land of Israel (1143578); Tel Hai Fund Limited (266913) | |
| Malcolm Cohen | 2016-12-30 | The Classics Charitable Trust (276711); The Independent Jewish Day School Foundation (287148) | |
| Benjamin Kon | 2023-02-13 | — |
Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)
| Capture date | Trustees listed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-01-16 | Malcolm Cohen (from 30 December 2016); Jeremy Michael Kon (from 30 December 2016); Sol Unsdorfer (from 30 December 2016) – also trustee of British Friends of the Land of Israel | [3] |
Sol Unsdorfer is also a register trustee of British Friends of The Land of Israel (1143578) and Tel Hai Fund Limited (266913); Malcolm Cohen of The Classics Charitable Trust (276711) and The Independent Jewish Day School Foundation (287148).[1]
Finances
| Financial year end | Income | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-03-31 | £103,010 | £38,790 |
| 2022-03-31 | £0 | £63,602 |
| 2023-03-31 | £64,014 | £63,687 |
| 2024-03-31 | £3 | £600 |
| 2025-03-31 | £66,188 | £67,631 |
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 31/03/2018[4]
Funding in Israel
- No spending in Israel is identified; the accounts do not mention Israel (PDF p.3–10).[2]
Israeli partners
No Israeli partner is named.[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.
| Finding | Confidence |
|---|---|
| No place in Israel is named.[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;[5] 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.[6][7][8][9] 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.[10]
- Unnamed recipients and lender. The £67,000 of donations is not attributed to any recipient and no activities are described; the £10,000 short-term loan is shown as "Other creditor" without naming the lender (PDF p.3, 8, 10).[2]
- Inconsistent notes. Note 4 gives 2024 charitable donations as nil, note 5 as £600 (PDF p.8–9).[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).[11] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[12]
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.[13]
Grants recorded by 360Giving
No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[14]
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.[15]
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.[16]
Parliament
Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Jewish Book Trust UK", "Jewish Book Trust" returned 0 contributions in total.[17]
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".[3]
External links
- No current official website.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 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.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Charity Commission, Jewish Book Trust UK (1174482): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 16 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Register entry 1174482, full print (capture of 20210116) UK Government Web Archive.
- ↑ Jewish Book Trust UK accounts, year ended 2018-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200108).
- ↑ 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-20 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)"; the other eight (Friends of Milbat, British Friends of Atid, River Progress Foundation, Morris Family Israel Trust, Afikim, the Cohen Charitable Trust, the Adrienne and Leslie Sussman Charitable Trust and Encompass) showed "Removed charity".
- ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
- ↑ 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).
- ↑ 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").
- ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, export dated 14 October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-20 charity names found no matching Scottish registration (a name-only hit for "Sheila & Denis Cohen Charitable Trust" was not established to be connected with the Cohen Charitable Trust and is disregarded).
- ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 16 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-20 charity names returned zero results).
- ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Jewish Book Trust' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
- ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-1174482 360Giving, queried 16 October 2026.
- ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-20 screening covered 272 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, Companies House officers of the five 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 Weiss, Sara, Masri, Cohen) or generic words in organisation names (Limited, Company, Trust).
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Jewish Book Trust" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).