Unitorah Trust

Former Northern Ireland charity set up to support the Belfast Jewish community and conflict resolution; removed from the register in 2022

Unitorah Trust
Type	Charity (Northern Ireland)
Founded	19 June 2015 (registered with CCNI)
Dissolved	10 November 2022 (removed from the register)
Registration ID	103198 (Charity Commission for Northern Ireland)
Status	Removed
Headquarters	27 Station Lane, Ballygowan, Newtownards, BT23 5XJ (public address on the register)
Location	Belfast
Registration	Northern Ireland (CCNI)

Unitorah Trust was a Northern Ireland charity. It was registered with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland on 19 June 2015 and removed from the register on 10 November 2022. Its first object was to "Promote the welfare and viability of Belfast and other Jewish communities". It also aimed to promote "regional, national and international conflict resolution and reconciliation" and to support "the inclusion of Jewish biblical, cultural and legal studies" in university curricula. The register describes plans for "a lecture theatre, reconciliation and holocaust museums, art gallery, charity shop, a conference centre, and exhibition and performance areas at the new synagogue complex in Belfast and at the refurbished old synagogue premises". Its last return, for the year to 30 November 2020, recorded no income or spending.

Objects and plans

The charity's objects were to:

• "(1) Promote the welfare and viability of Belfast and other Jewish communities for the public benefit", including by "advancing education in the fields of Jewish social values, humour, heritage and culture" and "facilitating dialogue and shared activities with other communities";
• "(2) Promote regional, national and international conflict resolution and reconciliation for the public benefit", including research into "methods and techniques used to build peace and tolerance, resolve conflict and foster reconciliation, compassion, forgiveness and trust";
• "(3) Advance education for the public benefit by: (a) providing scholarships, bursaries, prizes and student loans; (b) providing resources for teaching programmes at universities and colleges and promoting or assisting in the promotion of the inclusion of Jewish biblical, cultural and legal studies in the curricula of other academic subjects."

It planned courses on "compassion and forgiveness", "humour as a method of achieving reconciliation", "public speaking" and "enterprise development", as well as conferences "on conflict resolution, Jewish culture and other topics".

Registration

The register data gives the public address as 27 Station Lane, Ballygowan, Newtownards, BT23 5XJ. It records no company number. A company called Unitorah Trust (NI627737) was incorporated in Northern Ireland on 11 November 2014 and dissolved on 4 October 2022, five weeks before the charity was removed from the register. Its registered office was 35 Piney Lane, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT9 5QS, and its nature of business was "Other education not elsewhere classified". The charity register does not link the two, so the identification rests on the shared name and the matching dates.

Officers of Unitorah Trust (NI627737), Companies House

Name	Role	Born	Correspondence address	Appointed	Resigned
Dr Joseph Francis Boyle	Director	June 1945	35 Piney Lane, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT9 5QS	11 November 2014	(company dissolved)
Dr Bernard Jaffa	Director	April 1943	35 Piney Lane, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT9 5QS	11 November 2014	(company dissolved)
Ralph David Morris	Director	May 1949	35 Piney Lane, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT9 5QS	11 November 2014	(company dissolved)
Philip Blair	Secretary		78 Broadlands, Carrickfergus, County Antrim, BT38 7BL	10 June 2016	27 November 2018

See also

• Belfast Jewish Community
• Jewish charities in Northern Ireland