The Viznitz (Keren Nitzchi) Foundation
UK unincorporated Vizhnitz grant trust (326581); objects follow the Grand Rabbi of Viznitz; Commission operating areas Israel and the United States
| The Viznitz (Keren Nitzchi) Foundation | |
|---|---|
| Type | Unincorporated charitable trust |
| Logo | |
| Founded | Registered 29 May 1984[1] |
| Founder(s) | |
| Dissolved | |
| Registration ID | Charity 326581 |
| Status | Active; reporting up to date; not recognised by HMRC for Gift Aid |
| Headquarters | 23 Overlea Road, London E5 9BG[2] |
| Location | Clapton / Stamford Hill, Hackney |
| Area served | United Kingdom; Israel; United States[1] |
| Services | Grant-making at the discretion of the trustees in line with the trust deed and the wishes of the Grand Rabbi of Viznitz |
| Registration | England and Wales |
| Key people | Heinrich Feldman (chair); Joseph Feldman; Shulom Feldman |
| Website | |
| Remarks | Year to 31 March 2025: income £200,073; expenditure £185,756. No company number. Main way of carrying out purposes is grant-making.[1] |
The Viznitz (Keren Nitzchi) Foundation is an unincorporated charitable trust registered on 29 May 1984 as charity 326581. It has no Companies House number. The published correspondence address is 23 Overlea Road, London E5 9BG.[1][2]
The Commission activity note is: to pay, apply and appropriate the whole of the trust fund to those purposes both in the UK and abroad recognised as charitable by English law and in accordance with the trust deed and the wishes of the Grand Rabbi of Viznitz. The main way of carrying out purposes is grant-making. Register operating areas include Israel and the United States. Published returns do not split “Israel” between the Green Line and occupied territory.[1]
The Commission notes that one or more trustees are also directors of subsidiaries; no trustee remuneration is recorded.
Finances
| Year | Income | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | £541 | £1.14m |
| 2022 | £70,000 | £150,070 |
| 2023 | £30,010 | £36,630 |
| 2024 | £340,070 | £325,610 |
| 2025 | £200,073 | £185,756 |
No government grants or contracts are recorded. The 2021 year shows a large draw-down of reserves (£1.14m spent against £541 income). Part B detail is not on the public summary for these years.[1]
Trustees
| Name | Role | Appointed | Other trusteeships (Commission) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heinrich Feldman (listed as Henrich Feldman) | Chair | (no date on Commission list) | Entwood Charities Limited |
| Joseph Feldman | Trustee | 7 February 2017 | Fairview Charitable Trust; Amhurst Park Education and Donations; M A Grunwald Charity (reporting overdue); Suncroft Donations Trust; The Ruzin Sadagora Trust |
| Shulom Feldman | Trustee | (no date on Commission list) | None on this Commission record |
Heinrich Feldman (November 1935) was a long-serving director of Friends of Wiznitz Limited until 23 March 2022. Shulom Feldman remains a director and trustee of Friends of Wiznitz Limited (255685 / 00929964), the larger Stamford Hill grant company. Barry Feldman, also on Friends of Wiznitz, is a trustee of Entwood Charities Limited with Heinrich.[4]
Court and Israel
Keren Nitzchi is a smaller, Rebbe-directed pot beside Friends of Wiznitz Limited (£4.7m income in 2024/25). Related UK Vizhnitz vehicles include Viznitz Institutions Trust (1073284; work in Israel), C.M.A. Community Nursery Ltd (1083392; proprietor of Talmud Torah Chaim Meirim Wiznitz School), Kollel Imrei Chaim Wiznitz Trust (1122005) and Bnos Margulis Wiznitz (1188500, Salford).
Vizhnitz in Israel is Agudah / United Torah Judaism. The trust deed language (“wishes of the Grand Rabbi of Viznitz”) ties disbursement to the court, not to a published country ledger.
Activity in “Israel”
The Charity Commission lists Israel and the United States as places this trust operates. That is a register field, not a published grant schedule. Objects allow the trustees to apply the whole fund in the UK or abroad to purposes charitable in English law, “in accordance with the trust deed and the wishes of the Grand Rabbi of Viznitz.” There is no public application process and no Part B list of Israeli payees on the Commission summary.[1]
What can be located
The Israeli court this language is written for is the Bnei Brak line of Yisroel Hager, not a Religious-Zionist settlement project and not Satmar’s anti-state apparatus.
- Kiryat / Shikun Vizhnitz, Bnei Brak — principal Israeli kehilla: yeshiva, kollelim, housing and the large “world centre” complex promoted in Gush Dan (beis midrash, kitchens, mikveh, educational halls). This is inside the Green Line.
- Jerusalem — smaller presence; municipal Jerusalem includes occupied East Jerusalem frameworks, which UK filings do not separate.
- Elad and Beit Shemesh — overflow Haredi towns inside the Green Line.
- Occupied West Bank — Vizhnitz does not brand towns comparable to Beitar Illit or Modi'in Illit. Households from Agudah courts do live in those mixed Haredi cities. This charity’s accounts do not name them.
What the money is for
Scale is modest next to Friends of Wiznitz Limited: £200,073 income and £185,756 expenditure in the year to 31 March 2025; £340k / £326k the year before; a one-off £1.14m spend in 2020/21 against almost no income (reserves drawn down). The Commission classifies the main activity as grant-making.[1]
Israeli Vizhnitz institutions have taken the same yeshiva-budget cuts as other Agudah houses. Separate Israeli campaigns (including a Vizhnitz “Torah rescue” appeal aimed at monthly stipends for avreichim “throughout Eretz Yisrael”) are not this UK trust. Charity 326581 is the older London pot that can send money into that network when the Rebbe’s circle directs it.[5]
What cannot be claimed from the UK register
- Named grants to a specific Bnei Brak yeshiva, kollel or building.
- A split between Israel (1948/67 Green Line) and occupied territory.
- Settlement construction, outposts, or IDF-linked activity.
- Identity with Keren Hatzolah (Satmar) or with Keren Olam HaTorah (the cross-yeshiva emergency fund).
Until accounts name payees, “work in Israel” for this foundation means Rebbe-directed grants into the Bnei Brak–centred Vizhnitz yeshiva, kollel and hardship system, with an unitemised remainder that the register does not map onto the Green Line.
See also
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Charity Commission, The Viznitz (Keren Nitzchi) Foundation, 326581.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Giving is Great, The Viznitz (Keren Nitzchi) Foundation factsheet.
- ↑ Charity Commission, The Viznitz (Keren Nitzchi) Foundation trustees.
- ↑ Companies House, FRIENDS OF WIZNITZ LIMITED people.
- ↑ The Yeshiva World, Global Response Rises to Save the Torah World Amid Harsh Decrees.