Yeshivah Ohr Torah School

Closed Belz-affiliated independent boys’ yeshiva in Salford (URN 130287); proprietor Ohr Torah Ltd; Ofsted Inadequate from 2018 until closure 25 January 2022

Yeshivah Ohr Torah School
Type	Independent day school (boys); closed
Founded	Opened September / 20 November 1995
Registration ID	URN 130287; DfE 355/6031; UKPRN 10015142
Status	Closed 25 January 2022; last overall grade Inadequate
Headquarters	28 Broom Lane, Salford M7 4FX
Location	Broughton Park / Kersal & Broughton Park, Salford
Area served	Manchester Belz and wider Haredi community
Services	Orthodox Jewish secondary education for boys (11–16)
Registration	England (independent school)
Key people	Rabbi Yitzchok Wind (headteacher); David Neuwirth (chair of proprietor); proprietor Ohr Torah Ltd
Remarks	Registered capacity 39; 72 pupils recorded at closure. Affiliated to Belz; not exclusive to Belz. Charity continues; planning for a replacement yeshiva at Bevendon Square.

Yeshivah Ohr Torah School was an independent Orthodox Jewish boys’ secondary school at 28 Broom Lane, Salford M7 4FX, in Broughton Park. It opened in 1995 and closed on 25 January 2022. The registered proprietor at closure was Ohr Torah Ltd (company 03946114, charity 1083461). The chair named in Ofsted reports was David Neuwirth; the headteacher was Rabbi Yitzchok Wind. GIAS lists religious character “None” and Jewish ethos. Capacity was 39; the roll had risen to 72 by closure.

Belz affiliation

The first full Ofsted report (17–18 October 2007) stated:

Yeshivah Ohr Torah was opened in 1995 and is situated in North Manchester. It offers secondary education for Orthodox Jewish boys, with provision for both religious and secular studies. The school is affiliated to the Belz Hassidic Community, but it is not exclusive to members of that community.

The 2010 inspection repeated the Belz affiliation and described the school as a yeshivah ketanah: Kodesh taught in Yiddish, the home language of many pupils. In 2018 Ofsted recorded that GIAS still named Belz Communities as proprietor; Ohr Torah Ltd had taken over before the previous inspection, and two trustees of Belz Communities — including the chair — sat on the new body. Inspectors found no record that the DfE had been told of the change.

Ofsted

Standard and monitoring inspections

Date	Type	Outcome
17–18 October 2007	Standard	Good
1–2 November 2010	Standard	Good
25–27 March 2014	Standard	Good
10–12 July 2018	Standard	Inadequate (all judgements); independent school standards not met
6 March 2019	Progress monitoring	Standards checked still not all met
12 December 2019	Additional	Further monitoring
1 December 2020	Additional	Standards still not all met; leaders would not discuss sexual orientation or gender reassignment with pupils
25 January 2022	—	Closed

The July 2018 inspection found teaching, leadership, personal development and outcomes Inadequate. Parents had withdrawn consent for inspectors to speak to boys. All lessons were in Yiddish; secular study was “infrequent”; there were no recognised external qualifications; inspectors could not confirm that pupils were well cared for and safe. The school’s own measures of achievement “only have value within their own religious community.”

The Manchester Evening News reported the findings in November 2018. Shaya Leitner, speaking for governors, said the school still delivered “high quality education” and that the new framework was “much more rigid” and reduced the flexibility independent schools had enjoyed to structure a curriculum around communal ethos.

A 30 September 2019 Department for Education enforcement letter required action on unmet independent school standards. The December 2020 monitoring visit found leaders still refusing discussion of protected characteristics on sexual orientation and gender reassignment, and the roll still well above the registered 39.

Closure and Bevendon Square

GIAS records closure on 25 January 2022 (reason: Closure).

In the year to March 2019 Ohr Torah Ltd, with associated charity Chassidei Belz Manchester, spent over £1.16 million buying the former B&M unit at Bevendon Square, M7 4TF, for a school. Planning consent granted in 2020 expired. In April 2026 Salford officers recommended approval of a new Ohr Torah scheme (PA/2026/0234) to convert the same vacant unit into a yeshiva for about 120 students, expressly as a replacement for the closed Broom Lane school.

Proprietor: Ohr Torah Ltd

Ohr Torah Ltd is a company limited by guarantee (03946114, 13 March 2000) and charity 1083461 (17 November 2000). Registered office: B Olsberg & Co, Room 9, Enterprise House, 3 Middleton Road, Manchester M8 5DT. Charity contact address: 66 Wellington Street East, Salford M7 4DW (same as Neuwirth). SIC 85310 general secondary education. Commission operating area: Salford City. It owns or leases land. The charity remained active after the school closed: income £242,576 / expenditure £192,865 in the year to 31 March 2025.

Charity Commission trustees (1083461)

Name	Role	Appointed	Other trusteeships (selection)
Benjamin Leitner	Trustee	18 January 2018	Chassidei Belz Manchester; Broom Foundation; Malbin Trust
Isaac Luftig	Trustee	—	None on record
David Neuwirth	Trustee	—	Broom Foundation; British Friends of Ezrat Yisrael Kiryat Sefer; RNH Synagogue & College Ltd; New Marston Limited; Belz Communities; Convalescent Retreat Limited; The Reisner Charitable Foundation Ltd; The Sympathetic Trust; The Sanz Foundation; The Helping Foundation
Joshua Waldman	Trustee	—	Belz Communities; The Bersam Trust; AB Foundation; Talmud Torah Chinuch Neorim

Companies House officers (03946114)

Name	Role	Appointed	Resigned	DoB	Address on file
David Neuwirth	Director (active); PSC	13 March 2000	—	November 1970	66 Wellington Street East, Salford M7 4DW
Joshua Waldman	Director (active); PSC	13 March 2000	—	April 1955	2 Merrybower Road, Salford M7 4HE
Benjamin Leitner	Director (active)	31 July 2020	—	November 1953	8 Cheltenham Crescent, Salford M7 4FP
Isaac Luftig	Secretary (active)	13 March 2000	—	—	40 Tetlow Lane, Salford M7 4BR
Bernard Olsberg	Nominee secretary	13 March 2000	13 March 2000	—	22 New Hall Avenue, Salford M7 4HR
Rachel Hannah Olsberg	Nominee director	13 March 2000	13 March 2000	February 1948	22 New Hall Avenue, Salford M7 4HR

Israel

In 2014 Ofsted reported: "As a yeshivah (a form of Talmudic college) the aim is to prepare students for moving on to continue this form of education at a higher level in this country and abroad, particularly in Israel." It added: "The school maintains links with centres of learning in other countries such as in Israel."

Belz, Kiryat Sefer and occupied territory

Ohr Torah Ltd’s Commission field is Salford only. The same chair, David Neuwirth, is a trustee of British Friends of Ezrat Yisrael Kiryat Sefer (1136917), which the Commission lists as operating in Manchester and Israel and whose objects are relief of hardship of “people living in Israel.” Kiryat Sefer is the Haredi name for Modi'in Illit, a large settlement bloc in the occupied West Bank. That charity is a separate legal person from the school company; the link is the overlapping trustee, not a line item in Ohr Torah Ltd’s Salford return.

Belz Communities and Chassidei Belz Manchester are the local court vehicles. Belz in Israel is Agudah-facing; Modi'in Illit is a core Haredi settlement city.

See also

• Ohr Torah Ltd
• Belz (Hasidic dynasty)
• Belz Communities
• Chassidei Belz Manchester
• British Friends of Ezrat Yisrael Kiryat Sefer
• Jewish Schools in the UK

External links

• Ofsted URN 130287
• Get Information about Schools
• Charity Commission 1083461
• Companies House 03946114