Society of Friends of the Torah Limited

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UK Orthodox Jewish grant-making charity (SOFT), insolvent since 2019

Society of Friends of the Torah Limited

Type Charitable company
Founded 2011-03-21 (registered)
Registration ID Registered charity 1140838; company 07506573
Headquarters R G Insolvency Ltd, Devonshire House, Manor Way, Borehamwood, WD6 1QQ
Area served Throughout England, Israel


Society of Friends of the Torah Limited (SOFT) is a charitable company registered in England and Wales in 2011. The register flags it as insolvent.[1] It received the funds of the earlier unincorporated charity 238230 in January 2015.[2] Its last filed accounts (year ended 31 December 2017, recovered from the UK Government Web Archive) show income of £20,845,155 and grants of about £20.6 million.[3]

Objects and activities

The charity's registered objects read: "(I) THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE JEWISH RELIGION AND JEWISH RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (II) THE RELIEF OF POVERTY ILLNESS AND FRAILTY AMONGST MEMBERS OF THE JEWISH FAITH (III) THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION AMONGST MEMBERS OF THE JEWISH FAITH(IV) THE ADVANCEMENT OF SUCH OTHER OBJECTS AS THE DIRECTORS OF THE COMPANY MAY FROM TIME TO TIME DETERMINE THAT ARE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC AND ARE CHARITABLE ACCORDING TO THE LAW OF ENGLAND AND WALES"[1]

The register describes its activities as: "The principal activity of the Society is the operation of a voucher system whereby the donorgifts to the Society amounts under the Gift Aid Scheme. The Society is able to recover the taxupon the gift thereby increasing the amount available for distribution to the recipient charity."[1]

Register classifications: Education/training, The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty, Religious Activities.[1]

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

Trustees

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

Trustees of Society of Friends of the Torah Limited (register, October 2026)
Trustee Appointed Chair Other trusteeships
Moses Chajim Elzas 2011-03-21 —

Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)

Trustees shown in archived register pages
Capture date Trustees listed Source
2014-01-03 Isiah Traube; Moses Chajim Elzas; Dovid Mapper [4]
2014-09-04 Isiah Traube; Moses Chajim Elzas; Dovid Mapper [5]
2021-01-09 Isiah Traube – also trustee of Colel Polen Kupath Ramban Limited, Achim Limited, Kupat Ezer Lenisuin Beth Yisroel, T.d Seminary Ltd, Gur Trust; Moses Chajim Elzas (from 21 March 2011) [6]

Companies House officers

Companies House lists 4 current and former officers of the charitable company (07506573), 1 of them active.[7] Officers recorded as resident outside the UK: David Mapper (Israel, resigned).[7]

Finances

Income and expenditure, five most recent reported years
Financial year end Income Expenditure
2017-12-31 £20,845,155 £20,748,048

Source: FY2017 accounts (archived; the live register shows no annual-return history).[3]

Historical finances (UK Government Web Archive)

Income and spending shown on archived register pages
Financial year end Income (£) Spending (£) Source
31 Dec 2011 0 0 [8]
31 Dec 2012 11,350,024 9,509,222 [8]

Archived accounts

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

  • Accounts for the year ended 31/12/2012[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]

Funding in Israel

  • FY2017 archived accounts: donations £20,795,919; total income £20,845,155; grants about £20.6 million (individuals £1,325,878; other grants including below £20,000). Detailed institutional list available on request (PDF p.13).[3]

Israeli partners

Part of an umbrella group associated with Agudas Israel of Great Britain (2017 trustees' report); voucher system for donor-directed grants.[3][14]

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
Register areas include Israel; archived accounts do not itemise settlement locations. low

Support for the IDF: No IDF funding is identified in the 2017 accounts. Grants were made through a voucher system to institutions and individuals; the detailed grant list was available on request from trustee M C Elzas (2017 accounts PDF p.13).[3][3]

Controversies and regulatory action

  • Insolvency (2019–20). Administrators Avner Radomsky and Michael Goldstein of RG Insolvency were appointed on 17 December 2019 (Gazette notices 3453979 and 3453883; High Court CR-2019-008455).[15][16] Creditors' voluntary liquidation followed (liquidators appointed, Gazette notice 3689927, 8 December 2020).[17] Jewish News reported administration "despite recent accounts showing a surplus of £3m" and donations of more than £20.5m in 2017, and that SOFT was part of an umbrella group including Agudas Israel Community Services.[14]
  • HMRC / Gift Aid investigation (press). The Jewish Chronicle reported in January 2020 that the charity was "the subject of an ongoing investigation, following a voluntary disclosure made to HMRC and the Charity Commission", with Gift Aid refunds suspended.[18]
  • Predecessor inquiry (238230). The unincorporated Society of Friends of the Torah (238230) was in the Commission's 2013 double-defaulter class inquiry. The inquiry report (24 January 2014) found mismanagement and misconduct for failing to file accounts; trustees said assets and activities had transferred to 1140838.[2]

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).[19] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[20]

The Gazette

Insolvency notices: appointment of administrators (20 Dec 2019, notices 3453979 and 3453883, High Court CR-2019-008455) and appointment of liquidators (8 Dec 2020, notice 3689927).[21]

Grants recorded by 360Giving

No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[22]

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. Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor (UK sanctions ID RUS1127) does not appear among this charity's trustees or officers.[23]

Land and property

The register records that the charity owns and/or leases land or property.[1] No title registers were purchased; the HM Land Registry interactive search blocked automated access.[24] Candidate titles and addresses (CCOD dataset and register/accounts data):[25]

  • Register records that the charity owns and/or leases land or property; no CCOD company-number match was found after insolvency – Register land flag (source: register)

Parliament

A search of Hansard for 'Society of Friends of the Torah' returned 0 contributions in total.[26]

Web archive

The UK Government Web Archive holds 4 archived Charity Commission register pages used in this profile (cited in the sections above). The 2021 archived full print showed the status "Charity is in administration" and "Other regulators: No information available".[6]

See also

External links

  • No current official website.

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 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.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Charity Commission, Inquiry Report: The Society of Friends of the Torah (238230) GOV.UK / assets.publishing.service.gov.uk, published 24 January 2014 (class inquiry into double-defaulter charities; GOV.UK HTML page later withdrawn).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Charity Commission, Society of Friends of the Torah Limited (1140838): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities, viewed 14 October 2026 (charity flagged insolvent; latest filed accounts are for FY2017, cited from the UK Government Web Archive capture of the accounts PDF – see Archived accounts).
  4. ↑ Register entry 1140838, contact and trustees (capture of 20140103) UK Government Web Archive.
  5. ↑ Register entry 1140838, contact and trustees (capture of 20140904) UK Government Web Archive.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Register entry 1140838, full print (capture of 20210109) UK Government Web Archive.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Company 07506573: officers Companies House, viewed 14 October 2026.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Register entry 1140838, financial history (capture of 20140103) UK Government Web Archive.
  9. ↑ Society of Friends of the Torah Limited accounts, year ended 2012-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20140905).
  10. ↑ Society of Friends of the Torah Limited accounts, year ended 2014-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  11. ↑ Society of Friends of the Torah Limited accounts, year ended 2015-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  12. ↑ Society of Friends of the Torah Limited accounts, year ended 2016-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  13. ↑ Society of Friends of the Torah Limited accounts, year ended 2017-12-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Jewish News, Charity helping struggling families with vouchers goes into administration Jewish News, 18 December 2019.
  15. ↑ The Gazette, Appointment of Administrators: Society of Friends of the Torah Limited notice 3453979, 20 December 2019 (High Court CR-2019-008455).
  16. ↑ The Gazette, Other Corporate Insolvency Notices: Society of Friends of the Torah Limited notice 3453883, 20 December 2019.
  17. ↑ The Gazette, Appointment of Liquidators: Society of Friends of the Torah Limited notice 3689927, 8 December 2020.
  18. ↑ Simon Rocker, Orthodox charity voucher company cannot be rescued 'as a going concern' The Jewish Chronicle, 5 February 2020.
  19. ↑ 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).
  20. ↑ 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).
  21. ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Society of Friends of the Torah' The Gazette, searched 14 October 2026.
  22. ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-1140838 360Giving, queried 14 October 2026.
  23. ↑ 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.
  24. ↑ HM Land Registry, Search for land and property information GOV.UK – the service returned HTTP 403 (bot protection) to automated access on 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.
  25. ↑ 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.
  26. ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching 'Society of Friends of the Torah' Hansard, queried 14 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints).
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