Friends Of Yeshiva Daas Sholem Shotz
Removed UK Shotz Hasidic grant-making trust wound up after Charity Commission cashed-cheques class inquiry
| Friends Of Yeshiva Daas Sholem Shotz | |
|---|---|
| Type | Unincorporated charitable trust (removed) |
| Logo | |
| Founded | Trust deed 12 May 1998; registered 30 July 1998 |
| Founder(s) | |
| Dissolved | Removed from the register 20 January 2026 (ceased to exist) |
| Registration ID | Charity number 1070789 |
| Status | Removed |
| Headquarters | |
| Location | |
| Area served | |
| Services | |
| Registration | |
| Key people | |
| Website | |
| Remarks | |
Friends Of Yeshiva Daas Sholem Shotz was an unincorporated charitable trust registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales as charity number 1070789 on 30 July 1998 and removed from the register on 20 January 2026 as having ceased to exist.[1] Its name refers to a yeshiva associated with the Shotz (Suceava) Hasidic dynasty and with the Torah writings of the Shotzer Rebbe, Shulem Moshkovitz, titled Daas Sholom.[2] It was entered into a statutory class inquiry on 31 July 2025 over 66 cheques totalling £261,330 cashed at a company in Hackney between December 2021 and March 2023. New trustees appointed in August 2024 wound the charity up after former trustees did not hand over records. The inquiry into this charity closed with the Commission’s statement of results published on 9 September 2026.[3]
Objects and activities
The governing document was a trust deed made on 12 May 1998. The Commission’s statement of results recorded the objects as the advancement of the Orthodox Jewish religion and the advancement of Orthodox Jewish religious education and education generally. The register activities text also listed the relief of poverty among persons of the Jewish faith. The area of benefit in the deed was not defined.[3][1]
The register classified the charity as grant-making, operating throughout London, making grants to individuals and organisations, and working in education and training, religious activities, relief of poverty, overseas aid, health, disability and general charitable purposes.[4] It owned or leased no land or property and was not recognised by HM Revenue and Customs for Gift Aid.[1]
Historic accounts filed with the Commission for the years ended 31 December 2014–2018 are preserved on the UK Government Web Archive.[5][6][7][8][9]
The yeshiva and the Shotz Hasidic dynasty
The charity’s title identifies it as a UK “friends of” body for a yeshiva named Daas Sholem Shotz. Shotz (Yiddish: שאָץ, Shots) is a Hasidic dynasty originating in Suceava, Romania. Rabbi Shulem Moshkovitz (the Shotzer Rebbe), son of Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Moshe of Shotz, moved to London. He wrote Torah commentaries titled Daas Sholom, arranged according to Perek Shirah. A later Shotz rebbe has resided in the illegal settlement of Beitar Illit in the West Bank. Other descendants include the Shotz-Drubitzer rabbi (Brooklyn / Beit Shemesh) and Rabbi Naftali Asher Yeshayahu Moscowitz, the Melitzer Rebbe of Ashdod.[2]
A separate Stamford Hill congregation, Beis Sholem D'Shotz (formerly Beth Sholom Synagogue), at 42 St Kilda’s Road, London N16 5BZ (previously 27 St Kilda’s Road), is recorded as an Ashkenazi Orthodox shtiebl associated with the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, formed about 1962, with ministers Rabbi M. Deutsch (from at least 1966 to about 1998) and Rabbi S. Deutsch (from about 1998). That congregation is not the same legal entity as this charity.[10]
The Commission register listed the charity’s area of operation as throughout London only, not Israel.[4] Yeshiva Daas Sholem Shotz is associated with its registered charity address at 36 Moundfield Road, London, N16 6DT, in the United Kingdom. The name and objects indicate the intended beneficiary was an Orthodox Jewish educational institution in the Shotz orbit.
Finances
Income was recorded as donations and legacies. Institutional grants on the live register summary were £0 in each of the five years to 31 December 2024. For the year ended 31 December 2024 the register recorded £902,940 as expenditure on raising funds and £0 as charitable activities, after earlier years recorded almost all spending as charitable activities.[1]
| Year end | Income | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| 31 December 2020 | £864,540 | £1.03m |
| 31 December 2021 | £938,370 | £993,940 |
| 31 December 2022 | £1.34m | £1.20m |
| 31 December 2023 | £1.14m | £1.17m |
| 31 December 2024 | £993,933 | £902,940 |
Trustees
The live removed-charity register entry does not list trustee names. The Commission’s statement of results distinguished a board appointed in August 2024 (“new trustees”) from those in post when the cheques were issued (“former trustees”). It did not name either group.[3]
Archived Commission trustee pages captured on 5 January 2023 and 9 July 2023, and accounts for 2014–2018 on the UK Government Web Archive, record the historic trustee list before removal.[11][12][5]
| Name | Status | Dates | Notes / other trusteeships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Former trustees (unnamed in the 9 September 2026 inquiry statement) | In post December 2021–March 2023 | Until replacement, August 2024 | Commission found they issued open cheques; they did not pass financial and administrative records to the new board |
| New trustees (unnamed in the 9 September 2026 inquiry statement) | Appointed August 2024 | August 2024 – removal 20 January 2026 | Decided to wind up the charity; Commission issued section 15(2) advice on future trusteeships |
Accounts for 2014 and 2015, and Charity Commission trustee snapshots archived on 5 January 2023 and 9 July 2023, list the same three people as trustees of Friends Of Yeshiva Daas Sholem Shotz (charity number 1070789). The Commission's statement of results of 9 September 2026 treats this board as the former trustees who were in post when 66 cheques totalling £261,330 were issued (December 2021–March 2023) and who were replaced in August 2024. Spellings vary between the accounts (“Nechomo”; “David Arei Aker”) and the register (“Nochme”; “David Arie Aker”). None of these sources give an appointment date.
| Name (as given) | Role | Dates evidenced | Other trusteeships on the register snapshots |
|---|---|---|---|
| Israel Eckstein (Mr. Israel Eckstein) | Trustee | Named on 2014 and 2015 accounts; still listed 5 January 2023 and 9 July 2023; former board until August 2024 | Kolel Bys Shlome Arye Trust; Inspirations |
| Nochme Eckstein (Mrs. Nechomo Eckstein) | Trustee | Named on 2014 and 2015 accounts; still listed 5 January 2023 and 9 July 2023; former board until August 2024 | None on record |
| David Arie Aker (Mr. David Arei Aker) | Trustee | Named on 2014 and 2015 accounts; still listed 5 January 2023 and 9 July 2023; former board until August 2024 | None on record |
Administration address on the 2014/2015 accounts: 64 Filey Avenue, London N16 6JJ. Bankers: NatWest, Stamford Hill Branch, 6 Amhurst Parade, London N16 5AD.
Company officers
Not a company. No directors.
Alleged or apparent misdeeds
The class inquiry opened on 15 April 2025 under section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 after an unannounced HM Revenue and Customs visit in March 2023 to a company in Hackney found that 105 charities had cashed cheques there worth £22 million between December 2021 and March 2023. The Commission treated the issue of blank or open cheques as misconduct and/or mismanagement.[3]
This charity was entered on 31 July 2025 because HMRC evidence suggested it had issued 66 cheques totalling £261,330 in that period. The new trustees confirmed that open cheques had been issued by the former trustees. The Commission also had concerns whether the new trustees had fully understood their legal duties when they took over in August 2024.[3]
The new trustees provided minutes of a decision to wind up the charity “due to the administrative challenges which arose as a result of the charity’s former trustees not passing on the charity’s financial and administrative records when the new trustees were appointed.” The charity was removed from the register on 20 January 2026. The Commission issued regulatory advice and guidance under section 15(2) of the Act so that the new trustees understood their duties in any future trusteeship.[3]
A Commission press release of 9 September 2026 stated that it had found evidence that all four charities then removed from the inquiry, including this one, issued open cheques between December 2021 and March 2023; that it was satisfied each was undertaking charitable activities in line with its purposes; and that it made a finding of misconduct and/or mismanagement in all four cases because blank or open cheques are high risk and lack the oversight of charitable spending expected of trustees.[13]
Relations to Jewish communal organisations, Israel lobby groups, and Israel and the occupied territories
The charity sat in the Stamford Hill Haredi grant-making network and was named for a Shotz Hasidic yeshiva. Shotz leadership has included a London-based rebbe and later a rebbe resident in Beitar Illit. The related but legally separate congregation Beis Sholem D'Shotz is affiliated to the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations.[2][10]
The Commission register listed operations throughout London only.[4] No published inquiry statement or live register entry retrieved for this profile records a grant to the Israeli government, to a named UK Israel-lobby organisation, or to a named organisation in the occupied territories. Historic accounts on the UK Government Web Archive are the place to check named grantees. Absence of a published grant schedule on the live register is not evidence that no overseas grants existed.
See also
- British Jewish charities investigated by the Charity Commission
- Inspirations
- Mifal Hachesed Vehatzedokoh
- Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations
External links
- Charity Commission register entry (removed)
- Statement of the results of a class inquiry, 9 September 2026
- Archived trustees page, 5 January 2023
- Archived trustees page, 9 July 2023
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Charity Commission for England and Wales, FRIENDS OF YESHIVA DAAS SHOLEM SHOTZ full print Register of Charities, accessed 11 September 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Shotz (Hasidic dynasty), Shotz (Hasidic dynasty) Wikipedia via Wayback Machine, archived 15 November 2024.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Charity Commission for England and Wales, Statement of the results of a class inquiry GOV.UK, 9 September 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Charity Commission for England and Wales, What, who, how, where FRIENDS OF YESHIVA DAAS SHOLEM SHOTZ Register of Charities, accessed 11 September 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Charity Commission for England and Wales, Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2018 UK Government Web Archive, captured 6 January 2020.
- ↑ Charity Commission for England and Wales, Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2017 UK Government Web Archive, captured 6 January 2020.
- ↑ Charity Commission for England and Wales, Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2016 UK Government Web Archive, captured 6 January 2020.
- ↑ Charity Commission for England and Wales, Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2015 UK Government Web Archive, captured 6 January 2020.
- ↑ Charity Commission for England and Wales, Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2014 UK Government Web Archive, captured 6 January 2020.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Jewish Communities and Records – UK, Beis Sholem D'Shotz (formerly Beth Sholom Synagogue), Stamford Hill JCR-UK, updated 7 June 2017.
- ↑ Charity Commission for England and Wales, Trustees snapshot UK Government Web Archive, captured 5 January 2023.
- ↑ Charity Commission for England and Wales, Trustees snapshot UK Government Web Archive, captured 9 July 2023.
- ↑ Charity Commission for England and Wales, Regulator concludes investigation into 4 charities as class inquiry continues GOV.UK, 9 September 2026.