Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva College of Rabbinical Studies

From Powerbase
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Sephardi synagogue, yeshiva and charitable trust in Hendon, London, registered with the Charity Commission in 1984

Not to be confused with Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva, a yeshiva in the Israeli settlement of Yitzhar in the occupied West Bank.
Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva College of Rabbinical Studies

Logo Od Yosef Hai logo.png
Type Charitable trust (unincorporated); synagogue and yeshiva
Founded 5 December 1983
Founder(s) Rabbi Yaakov Hillel; Rabbi Dan Hillel
Registration ID Charity number 288429
Status Registered charity
Headquarters OD Yosef Hai Synagogue, 50 Finchley Lane, London NW4 1DJ
Location Hendon, London Borough of Barnet
Key people Trustees: Dayan Abraham David (chair), Abe Abraham, Rabbi Yaakov Hillel
Website https://odyosefhai.com/

Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva College of Rabbinical Studies (charity number 288429), working name Od Yosef Hai, is a Sephardi synagogue, yeshiva and community in Hendon, north-west London. It is an unincorporated charitable trust, constituted by a trust deed of 5 December 1983 and registered with the Charity Commission on 12 January 1984.[1][2] Its synagogue is called the Od Yosef Hai and Levy Kelaty Synagogue.[3]

The community was founded in 1983 at 232 Hendon Way by Rabbi Yaakov Hillel and his brother Rabbi Dan Hillel, and has been led since 1985 by Dayan Abraham David, who in 2018 became head of the Sephardi Beth Din in London.[3] It describes itself as following "the rites of Eastern Jewry" as interpreted by the Baghdadi rabbi Yosef Haim, the Ben Ish Hai.[4]

Since 1993 the charity has owned the former telephone exchange at 48/50 Finchley Lane, which also houses Nancy Reuben Primary School. The school's charity has paid rent to Od Yosef Hai without a formal lease, and Dayan David is a trustee of both charities.[3][4][5] Since 2025 Od Yosef Hai has been the sole member of the Nancy Reuben Primary School Trust, the foundation body of the school in the state sector.[6]

Registration and objects

The Charity Commission registered the charity on 12 January 1984. Its governing document is a trust deed dated 5 December 1983, and it is recognised by HMRC for Gift Aid.[2][7] The register gives its objects as:

  • "To promote for public benefit the Jewish religion by religious instruction and to advance education in Jewish culture ethnics and codes and the advancement of religious undestanding and consciousness."[7]

The register describes its activities as "the provision of Synagogue services, religious studies, community facilities and activities". It records three trustees, five volunteers and no employees paid more than £60,000, and states that the charity owns or leases land or property.[1][2] Its contact address is OD Yosef Hai Synagogue, 50 Finchley Lane, London NW4 1DJ.[8]

The trustees' report sets out the charity's aims as:[4]

  • "The conducting of divine service in accordance with the rites of Eastern Jewry all such services to be conducted in accordance with the standards and rules of Jewish Law as stipulated by the Holy Ari and interpreted by Rabbi Ha-Rushush and Rabbi Yosef Haim of Bagdad and the Code of Jewish Law."
  • "The establishment of an academy for the learning of higher rabbinical studies and Jewish learning for education of young adult men."
  • "The establishment of classes for the education of children between the ages of 5 to 18 years."
  • "Benefitting the public good by the relief of poverty and the help of the sick and the aged."

The name on the register is "Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva College of Rabbinical Studies". The charity's own accounts use "Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva College for Rabbinical Studies", and the 2025 accounts of the Nancy Reuben Primary School charity use "Od Yosef Hai College of Rabbinical Studies".[1][4][5] The community's current logo spells the name "Od Yosef Chai".[9]

History

Hendon Way, 1983–1993

According to the community's own history, Od Yosef Hai was established in 1983 "by the Gaon Rabbi Yaakov Hillel Shli'ta and his brother Rabbi Dan Hillel Z"l" in a building at 232 Hendon Way, with backing from Levy Kelaty, whom it calls Rabbi Dan Hillel's "right-hand man". It describes this as "the first time a Yeshivah for learning and prayer was established in London for our brethren from the East".[3]

In 1985, after Rabbi Dan Hillel left, Dayan Abraham David moved from Argentina to lead the community.[3] His biography on the community's website says he was born in Rangoon to a family of Iraqi origin, studied at Gateshead Yeshiva, taught at Porat Yosef in Jerusalem, and was close to the Sephardi Chief Rabbis Ovadia Yosef and Mordechai Eliyahu. He headed a kollel in Buenos Aires from 1976 and became rabbi of the Syrian community Shuba Israel there in 1980. He took over Od Yosef Hai in 1985 after seeking the agreement of Rabbi Elazar Menachem Man Shach.[10]

Finchley Lane

The community says that an enforcement order against the use of the Hendon Way building led it to buy the former telephone exchange at 48/50 Finchley Lane. The building was offered at £600,000, and the purchase was completed in May 1993 with a donation from the Kelaty family, £200,000 raised in the community and a bank loan.[3] The synagogue gave its address as 48 Finchley Lane until about 2008, and was known as Od Yosef Hai Synagogue until about 2012.[11]

The community's timeline records:[3]

  • 1997: the Od Avinu Hai youth group, led by Rabbi Saul Kelly;
  • 1998: the inaugural dinner of the Levy Kelaty Synagogue, in the presence of the Rishon LeZion, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu;
  • 1999: the OYH Kindergarten;
  • 2001: the OYH Primary School, launched at a gala dinner at the London Marriott Hotel, again in the presence of Rabbi Eliyahu;
  • 2008: the arrival of Rabbi Yossi David as assistant rabbi and head of the kollel;
  • 2016: a gala dinner at the Hilton Metropole marking Dayan David's 30 years as rabbi, attended by Rabbi Yaakov Hillel;
  • May 2018: Dayan David's appointment as head of the Sephardi Beth Din.

In 2006 the Jewish Chronicle reported that the primary school, "which shares premises with Od Yosef Hai Synagogue", was to be renamed after Nancy Reuben, the mother of David Reuben and Simon Reuben, and that the complex was "in the midst of a £1.5 million redevelopment project".[12] Od Yosef Hai says that the Reuben Brothers' help, with a bank loan, paid for space for the school, a new synagogue, a study hall and a banqueting hall.[3]

Press coverage

In April 2008 the Jewish Chronicle reported a Sefer Torah procession to the synagogue led by 14 rabbis. The guest of honour was the Jerusalem rabbi Shalom Arush, brought to London by the donor Asher Moses, and the event raised £13,000 for the community's youth programme.[13]

In January 2014 the Jewish Chronicle reported that a talk at Od Yosef Hai by the Israeli-born rabbi Yosef Mizrachi, who had said that Down's syndrome was a punishment for sins in a previous life, had been cancelled. Yosef David of the synagogue told the paper that the event had been organised by Torah Platform, not by the congregation.[14]

Trustees and clergy

The register lists three trustees and gives no appointment dates. The same three are named in the trustees' reports for 2021 to 2024, which are signed by A. David.[15][4][16]

Trustees of Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva College of Rabbinical Studies (288429), as of October 2026
Name on register Role Other information
Dayan Abraham David Chair Rabbi of Od Yosef Hai since 1985; head of the Sephardi Beth Din since 2018; trustee of Nancy Reuben Primary School (charity 1117515) and director of the Nancy Reuben Primary School Trust; born June 1939; Companies House correspondence address 28 Wykeham Road, London NW4 2SU[10][17]
Abe Abraham Trustee Named as "A Abraham" in the trustees' reports
Rabbi Yaakov Hillel Trustee Co-founder of the community, according to its website; named as "Rabbi Y Hillel" in the trustees' reports

A "Hacham Yaakov Hillel" has been company secretary of the Nancy Reuben Primary School charity (06000294) since 16 November 2006, and was secretary of the dissolved Nancy Reuben Kindergarten (06000362) from the same date. Companies House records his nationality as British and his correspondence address as 45-33 Arzei Habira, Jerusalem. As usual for secretaries, it gives no date of birth.[18] Arzei HaBira is in occupied East Jerusalem: a neighbourhood built after 1967 partially or wholly on former no-man's land beyond the 1949 armistice lines.[19]

Rabbi Yossi David, Dayan David's son, was born in Gateshead and raised in Buenos Aires. He studied at the Ponevezh Yeshiva under Rabbi Shach and then for 12 years at the Kollel Darchei Horaah of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu in Jerusalem, where he received rabbinical ordination from Eliyahu, from Rabbi Shalom Mashash, the chief rabbi of Jerusalem, and from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. Since 2008 he has been assistant rabbi at Od Yosef Hai and head of its kollel. The community's website says he is also a governor of Nancy Reuben Primary School and directs its "religious ethos", and that in 2018 he was appointed dayan of the Sephardi Kashrut Authority.[20]

Finances

The charity's year ends on 31 December. Its accounts are independently examined, not audited, by Akiva Kahan FCA of Joseph Kahan Associates LLP, 923 Finchley Road, London NW11 7PE.[4] The accounts for 2021, 2022 and 2023 were filed with the Charity Commission 71, 198 and 47 days late respectively. Those for 2024 were filed on time on 27 October 2025.[21]

Income and expenditure, years ending 31 December
Year Income Expenditure
2020 £287,190 £301,380
2021 £345,110 £286,210
2022 £374,280 £320,800
2023 £355,640 £346,570
2024 £375,441 £335,795

The register rounds the figures for 2020 to 2023 to the nearest £10.[22]

In 2024 income was made up of donations of £85,158; trading income of £215,148, comprising membership fees and events (£182,988) and hire of premises (£32,160); and investment income of £75,135, almost all of it rents receivable (£74,618). Spending included bursaries of £52,733 (2023: £103,389). At 31 December 2024 the charity had funds of £2,757,224. Its land and buildings had cost £3,655,917 and had a net book value of £2,614,688, and it held heritage assets (its library and scrolls) at a cost of £19,900. Trade debtors stood at £199,069.[4]

Bank loan

The purchase and development of the premises was financed partly by a Bank of Ireland loan. The bank holds "a first legal charge over the freehold property and its associated assets", and "guarantees have been given by members of the community in support of the loan".[4]

Bank of Ireland loan outstanding at 31 December
Year Balance
2020 £475,769
2021 £412,169
2022 £348,869
2023 £285,363
2024 £232,363

Figures are from the accounts for 2021 to 2024.[16][4]

Payments to trustees

The register states: "No trustees receive any remuneration, payments or benefits from the charity."[1] The charity's accounts, under the note "Trustees' remuneration and benefits", record "Trustees' rabbinical fees" in each year. They do not name the trustee or trustees paid, and report no trustees' expenses.[16][4]

"Trustees' rabbinical fees", years ending 31 December
Year Amount
2020 £29,409
2021 £31,105
2022 £20,736
2023 £29,977
2024 £30,831

Relationship with Nancy Reuben Primary School

Nancy Reuben Primary School occupies part of the Finchley Lane premises. It was run as an independent school from 2008 to 2025 by a charitable company (charity 1117515, company 06000294) whose trustees are the Reuben Foundation and Dayan Abraham David. Hacham Yaakov Hillel is its company secretary.[17][5]

Rent without a lease

Both charities disclose the rent as a related-party transaction. Od Yosef Hai's accounts state that it "receives rent from Nancy Reuben School, a registered charity of which one of the Trustee is connected", and that "No formal lease exist in respect of this arrangement at present".[4] The school charity's 2025 accounts record "Rent paid to Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva College of Rabbinical Studies" and state: "Dayan A David is a trustee of the registered charity Od Yosef Hai College of Rabbinical Studies. No formal lease exists under this arrangement at present."[5] Neither set of accounts mentions a valuation of the rent.

Rent paid by the Nancy Reuben Primary School charity to Od Yosef Hai
Period Amount Source
Year to 31 August 2009 £18,000 School accounts[23]
Year to 31 August 2012 £22,500 School accounts[24]
Year to 31 August 2013 £21,000 School accounts[24]
Calendar year 2020 £38,500 Od Yosef Hai accounts[16]
Years to 31 August 2020 to 2023 £42,000 a year School accounts[25][26]
Calendar years 2021 and 2022 £42,000 a year Od Yosef Hai accounts[27]
Calendar year 2023 £43,500 Od Yosef Hai accounts[28]
Year to 31 August 2024 £48,000 School accounts[5]
Calendar year 2024 £48,000 Od Yosef Hai accounts[4]
Year to 31 August 2025 £56,000 School accounts[5]

Od Yosef Hai's total rents receivable were £68,464 in 2020 and £74,618 in 2024, so the school accounted for most of its rental income.[16][4]

Other related-party payments

The school charity's accounts record salary paid to Dayan David's son: "the sum of 9,500 (2020: 8,867) was paid to Yossi David (son of the trustee Dayan A David) as salary" in the year to August 2021, and "Salary paid to close family member of the trustee Dayan A David 10,070 (2024: 9,500)" in the year to August 2025.[25][5] The Reuben Foundation, the other trustee, gave the school charity £500,000 in each of the years to August 2024 and 2025.[5]

Move into the state sector

In July 2025 the Nancy Reuben Primary School Trust (company 16586946) was incorporated as the foundation body of the school as a voluntary aided school. Its articles name its sole member, "the Synagogue", as Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva College of Rabbinical Studies (charity 288429), which was also the subscriber. The articles allow the Trust to pay "reasonable and proper rent for premises demised or let by the Member to the Charity".[6] On 25 July 2025 Barnet Council approved the change to voluntary aided status on condition that the proposer acquired 48 Finchley Lane "on a leasehold title of a minimum term of 125 years at a peppercorn rent".[29] The school opened as a maintained school on 15 September 2025.[30] Od Yosef Hai's accounts for 2025 had not been filed by 31 October 2026.[21]

Religious character and Israel links

Od Yosef Hai follows the Baghdadi Sephardi tradition of the Ben Ish Hai. The Nancy Reuben Primary School Trust's objects require education "in accordance with the Orthodox Jewish faith and the teachings of the great Rabbi Yossef Haim of Baghdad (known as the Ben Ish Hai)".[4][6] The phrase Od Yosef Chai ("Joseph is still alive", Genesis 45) is also the title of a collection of sermons by the Ben Ish Hai.[31]

The community's clergy have links with the Haredi Sephardi and Lithuanian yeshiva world in Israel. Dayan David taught at Porat Yosef in Jerusalem and sought the approval of Rabbi Shach before taking up his post. His son, Yossi David, was ordained by Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, a former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, who attended the community's dinners in 1998 and 2001.[10][20][3] Companies House gives a Jerusalem correspondence address for Hacham Yaakov Hillel, the secretary of the school charity.[18]

The Hendon community is a separate institution from Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva, which was founded at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus and moved to the Israeli settlement of Yitzhar in the occupied West Bank after the Israeli army withdrew from the tomb in 2000. Its spiritual leader is the Chabad-affiliated rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburgh.[32] The UK government imposed sanctions on the Yitzhar yeshiva on 15 October 2024.[33]

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Charity Commission for England and Wales, OD YOSEF HAI YESHIVA COLLEGE OF RABBINICAL STUDIES - 288429, Register of Charities, accessed 31 October 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Charity Commission for England and Wales, OD YOSEF HAI YESHIVA COLLEGE OF RABBINICAL STUDIES - 288429: Governance, Register of Charities, accessed 31 October 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Od Yosef Hai, History, odyosefhai.com, accessed 31 October 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva College for Rabbinical Studies, Report of the Trustees and Unaudited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2024, Charity Commission, received 27 October 2025, accessed 31 October 2026.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Nancy Reuben Primary School, Trustees' Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 August 2025, Companies House, filed 6 June 2026, accessed 31 October 2026.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Nancy Reuben Primary School Trust, Incorporation documents and articles of association, Companies House, 16 July 2025, accessed 31 October 2026.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Charity Commission for England and Wales, OD YOSEF HAI YESHIVA COLLEGE OF RABBINICAL STUDIES - 288429: Governing document, Register of Charities, accessed 31 October 2026.
  8. ↑ Charity Commission for England and Wales, OD YOSEF HAI YESHIVA COLLEGE OF RABBINICAL STUDIES - 288429: Contact information, Register of Charities, accessed 31 October 2026.
  9. ↑ Od Yosef Hai, Logo, odyosefhai.com, uploaded September 2024, accessed 31 October 2026.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Od Yosef Hai, Dayan Abraham David, odyosefhai.com, accessed 31 October 2026.
  11. ↑ JCR-UK, Od Yosef Hai and Levy Kelaty Synagogue, Hendon, JewishGen, accessed 31 October 2026.
  12. ↑ Jewish Chronicle, 14 July 2006, reproduced as Reuben School, reubenbrothers.com, accessed 31 October 2026.
  13. ↑ Jay Grenby, Scroll tour, Jewish Chronicle, 4 April 2008, accessed 31 October 2026.
  14. ↑ Simon Rocker, Synagogue cancels talk by 'Down's Syndrome is a punishment' rabbi, Jewish Chronicle, 24 January 2014, accessed 31 October 2026.
  15. ↑ Charity Commission for England and Wales, OD YOSEF HAI YESHIVA COLLEGE OF RABBINICAL STUDIES - 288429: Trustees, Register of Charities, accessed 31 October 2026.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva College for Rabbinical Studies, Report of the Trustees and Unaudited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2021, Charity Commission, received 10 January 2023, accessed 31 October 2026.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Companies House, NANCY REUBEN PRIMARY SCHOOL (06000294): Officers, accessed 31 October 2026.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Companies House, Hacham Yaakov HILLEL: Appointments, accessed 31 October 2026.
  19. ↑ Hillel Fendel and Chaim Silberstein, "Meet Eastern Jerusalem!", The Jewish Press, 4 March 2016, accessed 31 October 2026.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Od Yosef Hai, Rabbi Yossi David, odyosefhai.com, accessed 31 October 2026.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Charity Commission for England and Wales, OD YOSEF HAI YESHIVA COLLEGE OF RABBINICAL STUDIES - 288429: Accounts and annual returns, Register of Charities, accessed 31 October 2026.
  22. ↑ Charity Commission for England and Wales, OD YOSEF HAI YESHIVA COLLEGE OF RABBINICAL STUDIES - 288429: Financial history, Register of Charities, accessed 31 October 2026.
  23. ↑ Nancy Reuben Primary School, Trustees' Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 August 2009, Companies House, accessed 31 October 2026.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Nancy Reuben Primary School, Trustees' Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 August 2013, Companies House, accessed 31 October 2026.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Nancy Reuben Primary School, Trustees' Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 August 2021, Companies House, accessed 31 October 2026.
  26. ↑ Nancy Reuben Primary School, Trustees' Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 August 2023, Companies House, accessed 31 October 2026.
  27. ↑ Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva College for Rabbinical Studies, Report of the Trustees and Unaudited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2022, Charity Commission, received 16 May 2024, accessed 31 October 2026.
  28. ↑ Od Yosef Hai Yeshiva College for Rabbinical Studies, Report of the Trustees and Unaudited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023, Charity Commission, received 17 December 2024, accessed 31 October 2026.
  29. ↑ London Borough of Barnet, Proposal to establish Nancy Reuben Primary School (NRPS) as a Barnet Council maintained voluntary aided school, decision of 25 July 2025, published 29 July 2025, accessed 31 October 2026.
  30. ↑ Department for Education, Nancy Reuben Primary School (URN 152214), Get Information about Schools, accessed 31 October 2026.
  31. ↑ Sefaria, Od Yosef Chai; Derashot, Sefaria Library, accessed 31 October 2026.
  32. ↑ Od Yosef Chai, About, odyosefchai.co.il, accessed 31 October 2026.
  33. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, New UK sanctions target illegal outposts and organisations supporting extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank, GOV.UK, 15 October 2024, accessed 31 October 2026.
Retrieved from "https://powerbase.info/index.php?title=Od_Yosef_Hai_Yeshiva_College_of_Rabbinical_Studies&oldid=299313"