UK Friends of Bnos Yehudis
Prestwich CIO paying for girls to attend the Bnos Yehudis seminary in Israel, with a template label in place of its grantee
| UK Friends of Bnos Yehudis
| |
|---|---|
| Type | CIO |
| Founded | 2023-11-23 (registered) |
| Registration ID | Registered charity 1205872 |
| Headquarters | Prestwich M25 |
| Area served | Throughout England And Wales, Israel |
| Key people | Simcha Reif (chair) |
UK Friends of Bnos Yehudis is a charitable incorporated organisation registered on 23 November 2023; register areas are England and Wales and Israel.[1] Its trustees are Simcha Reif (chair), Abraham Asher Schleider and Moishe Malcom Steinhaus (appointed February 2026, replacing Mrs S Schechter), with a principal office in Prestwich M25 (PDF p.3).[1][2] Its object is the Orthodox Jewish religion, "in particular, but not exclusively by providing grants for girls to attend Bnos Yehudis Seminary in Israel ... which they could not otherwise afford through lack of means" (PDF p.3). In the year to 30 June 2025 income was £176,452 (2024: £32,021), expenditure £100,460 and funds £107,654 (PDF p.6).[2]
Objects and activities
The charity's registered objects read: "THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE ORTHODOX JEWISH RELIGION FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC, IN PARTICULAR, BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY BY PROVIDING GRANTS FOR GIRLS TO ATTEND BNOS YEHUDIS SEMINARY IN ISRAEL TO LEARN ABOUT AND ADVANCE THEIR FAITH WHICH THEY COULD NOT OTHERWISE AFFORD THROUGH LACK OF MEANS."[1]
The register describes its activities as: "The charity makes grants to support the educational work of Bnos Yehudis in Israel."[1]
Register classifications: Religious Activities.[1]
Areas of operation recorded on the register: Throughout England And Wales, Israel.[1]
Trustees
Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[1]
| Trustee | Appointed | Chair | Other trusteeships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simcha Reif | 2023-11-23 | Yes | — |
| Abraham Asher Schleider | 2023-11-23 | — | |
| Moishe Malcom Steinhaus | 2026-02-02 | — |
Finances
| Financial year end | Income | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-06-30 | £32,021 | £360 |
| 2025-06-30 | £176,452 | £100,460 |
Source: register annual-return history.[1]
Funding in Israel
- FY2025 grants to institutions £100,100 under the template label "Grants to institutions type 1"; the objects and register activities say grants support "the educational work of Bnos Yehudis in Israel" (PDF p.3, 11).[2][1]
Israeli partners
Bnos Yehudis Seminary in Israel, named in the objects (PDF p.3).[2] A 2025 guide for English-speaking newcomers lists a seminary called Bnos Yehudis at HaMeasef 9, Romema, Jerusalem.[3]
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 |
|---|---|
| A seminary named Bnos Yehudis is listed in Romema, Jerusalem – inside Israel's pre-1967 lines; the link to this charity rests on the name only.[3] | Low |
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;[4] 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.[5][6][7][8] 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.[9]
- Template label in the accounts. The grants note records £100,100 against the heading "Grants to institutions type 1" and "Activity type 1" – unedited template labels – so the recipient is not named in the accounts (PDF p.11).[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).[10] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[11]
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.[12]
Grants recorded by 360Giving
No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[13]
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.[14]
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.[15]
US counterparts (ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer)
| Organisation | EIN | Latest filing year | Revenue (US$) | Expenses (US$) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Friends Of Bnos Yehudis Inc[16] | 832339701 | 2023 | 2,081,866 | 1,863,135 |
These US organisations share the name or beneficiary of the UK charity; no financial flows between them and the UK charity were established.
Parliament
Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Friends of Bnos Yehudis", "Bnos Yehudis" returned 0 contributions in total.[17]
Web archive
The UK Government Web Archive holds 0 archived Charity Commission register pages used in this profile; none were found for this charity number.
See also
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 1.9 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 Charity Commission, UK Friends of Bnos Yehudis (1205872): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 16 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Newcomers Guide Israel 2025, Schools: seminaries newcomersguide.co.il, p. 199 of the guide, retrieved 16 October 2026 ("Bnos Yehudis, HaMeasef 9, Romema", Jerusalem-area list of seminaries).
- ↑ 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-14 charities, all retrieved successfully on 16 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" section; none was shown for any of them. Nineteen registered charities showed "Charity reporting is up to date (on time)"; Friends of the Israel Cancer Association showed "up to date (13 days late)" and The Bertie Black Foundation "up to date (82 days late)"; British Friends of Neve Shalom, Mesila UK, The Friends of Ohr Akiva Institutions and Etz Chaim Foundation 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-14 charity names found no matching Scottish registration.
- ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 16 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-14 charity names returned zero results).
- ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Bnos Yehudis' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
- ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-1205872 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-14 screening covered 282 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, Companies House officers of the eight charitable companies, directors of the dissolved Etz Chaim Foundation company and of Mesila UK Limited, related companies and charities named in the accounts (including Bestgreat Ltd, Jonvan Properties, One Shakespeare Limited, Beauland Limited, Tifereth Benevolent Fund Limited and Torah Temimah Trust) and trustees, examiners and donors named in the accounts read for this batch; matching on surname plus forename tokens, reviewed manually. No forename-and-surname match for any person or company was found; the only token matches were surname-only coincidences (for example Cohen and Jones); lists downloaded October 2026.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ American Friends Of Bnos Yehudis Inc – Nonprofit Explorer ProPublica, viewed 16 October 2026.
- ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Bnos Yehudis" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).