Difference between revisions of "Belz (Hasidic dynasty)"
Chabad Bot (talk | contribs) (Driving ban 2015: restore Jewish Chronicle (28 May 2015) citation with attributed detail (full text supplied by David); italicise Hackney Council in refs) |
Chabad Bot (talk | contribs) (Politics: restore Times of Israel blog (23 Aug 2026) citation, attributed, with only the points its text supports (full text supplied by David)) |
||
| Line 134: | Line 134: | ||
== Politics == | == Politics == | ||
In Israel Belz is part of the Hasidic [[Agudat Yisrael]] wing of [[United Torah Judaism]] ([[UTJ]]), the joint list formed in 1992 by Agudat Yisrael and the Lithuanian [[Degel HaTorah]]. UTJ won seven seats in the 25th Knesset and has been a key partner of [[Benjamin Netanyahu]]'s coalition bloc.<ref name="JPostUTJ" /> In July 2025 UTJ left Netanyahu's coalition over a bill to limit draft exemptions for Haredi men.<ref name="BloombergUTJ" /><ref name="IPF" /> The ''Jerusalem Post'' reported in September 2026 that UTJ could in theory help an anti-Netanyahu bloc form a government.<ref name="JPostGafni" /> | In Israel Belz is part of the Hasidic [[Agudat Yisrael]] wing of [[United Torah Judaism]] ([[UTJ]]), the joint list formed in 1992 by Agudat Yisrael and the Lithuanian [[Degel HaTorah]]. UTJ won seven seats in the 25th Knesset and has been a key partner of [[Benjamin Netanyahu]]'s coalition bloc.<ref name="JPostUTJ" /> In July 2025 UTJ left Netanyahu's coalition over a bill to limit draft exemptions for Haredi men.<ref name="BloombergUTJ" /><ref name="IPF" /> The ''Jerusalem Post'' reported in September 2026 that UTJ could in theory help an anti-Netanyahu bloc form a government.<ref name="JPostGafni" /> | ||
| + | |||
| + | A blog post by Eitan Chikli on the ''[[Times of Israel]]'' blogs platform in August 2026 set out the background. It said Agudat Yisrael had been founded in Katowice in 1912 by Orthodox rabbis from Eastern Europe who rejected assimilation and Zionism. In June 1947 [[David Ben-Gurion]], for the [[Jewish Agency]], negotiated a "status quo agreement" with Agudat Yisrael covering the Sabbath in public institutions, kashrut, the jurisdiction of religious courts over marriage and divorce, and public funding for an autonomous religious school system. In 1988 Rabbi [[Elazar Shach]] broke with Agudat Yisrael, which the post described as "then dominated by Hasidic groups", and founded Degel HaTorah. The post said the joint UTJ list had split at times, notably in 2004, before reuniting, and that in 2020 the share of places on the list, which had previously favoured Agudat Yisrael, was rebalanced. Within UTJ, according to the post, Agudat Yisrael represents the Hasidic camp and Degel HaTorah the Lithuanian camp, and major political decisions formally need the approval of a council of senior rabbis.<ref name="ToIBlog" /> | ||
| + | |||
| + | The post listed the party's priorities as funding for yeshivas and schools, support for families, the religious status quo and, above all, the exemption of yeshiva students from military service. It said UTJ had been allied with [[Likud]] under Netanyahu since the 1990s: the Haredi parties supplied seats, and Likud protected their education system, their budgets and the status of yeshiva students. It described 2025 and 2026 as a period of parliamentary boycotts, threats to leave the coalition, arrests of yeshiva students who refused the draft and demonstrations at military sites. In the author's view, a Basic Law passed in July 2026 that defined Torah study as a "fundamental value" of the Jewish people and the state deepened the polarisation.<ref name="ToIBlog" /> | ||
In September 2026 Belz moved to replace its long-serving Knesset member [[Yisrael Eichler]] with [[Elyakim Stark]], chairman of the Belz executive committee.<ref name="VINStark" /> Stark and [[Meir Porush]] of [[Shlomei Emunim]] then registered a new party, [[Homat Torat Yisrael]] ("Wall of the Torah of Israel"), alleging discrimination by the [[Ger (Hasidic dynasty)|Ger]]-led "Central Faction".<ref name="INNPorush" /> UTJ submitted its slate as an alliance of three parties: Degel HaTorah, Agudat Yisrael and the new party. Stark was sixth on the list. Belz and Shlomei Emunim said the move was not a withdrawal from Agudat Yisrael.<ref name="YeshivaWorldSlate" /> | In September 2026 Belz moved to replace its long-serving Knesset member [[Yisrael Eichler]] with [[Elyakim Stark]], chairman of the Belz executive committee.<ref name="VINStark" /> Stark and [[Meir Porush]] of [[Shlomei Emunim]] then registered a new party, [[Homat Torat Yisrael]] ("Wall of the Torah of Israel"), alleging discrimination by the [[Ger (Hasidic dynasty)|Ger]]-led "Central Faction".<ref name="INNPorush" /> UTJ submitted its slate as an alliance of three parties: Degel HaTorah, Agudat Yisrael and the new party. Stark was sixth on the list. Belz and Shlomei Emunim said the move was not a withdrawal from Agudat Yisrael.<ref name="YeshivaWorldSlate" /> | ||
| Line 150: | Line 154: | ||
== Notes == | == Notes == | ||
<references> | <references> | ||
| + | <ref name="ToIBlog">Eitan Chikli, [https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/united-torah-judaism-lithuanian-and-hasidic-judaism-at-the-heart-of-israeli-politics/ United Torah Judaism: Lithuanian and Hasidic Judaism at the Heart of Israeli Politics] ''Times of Israel'' blogs, 23 August 2026 (full text supplied by David), accessed 27 October 2026.</ref> | ||
<ref name="JC2015">Simon Rocker, [http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/136878/stamford-hill-sect-bans-women-drivers Stamford Hill sect bans women drivers] ''The Jewish Chronicle'', 28 May 2015 (full text supplied by David), accessed 27 October 2026.</ref> | <ref name="JC2015">Simon Rocker, [http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/136878/stamford-hill-sect-bans-women-drivers Stamford Hill sect bans women drivers] ''The Jewish Chronicle'', 28 May 2015 (full text supplied by David), accessed 27 October 2026.</ref> | ||
<ref name="HackneyPlanp1">London Borough of Hackney, [https://hackney.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s24785/Report.pdf Planning Sub-Committee – 15/08/2012: 96, 98 & 98A Clapton Common, London E5 9AL (application 2012/1405)] ''Hackney Council'', report by Caroline Ozor, 15 August 2012, p. 1 (copy supplied by David), accessed 27 October 2026.</ref> | <ref name="HackneyPlanp1">London Borough of Hackney, [https://hackney.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s24785/Report.pdf Planning Sub-Committee – 15/08/2012: 96, 98 & 98A Clapton Common, London E5 9AL (application 2012/1405)] ''Hackney Council'', report by Caroline Ozor, 15 August 2012, p. 1 (copy supplied by David), accessed 27 October 2026.</ref> | ||
Latest revision as of 21:35, 27 October 2026
Hasidic dynasty founded in Belz, Galicia, around 1817; now centred in Kiryat Belz, Jerusalem, with communities in New York, London, Manchester, Antwerp and elsewhere
| Belz | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1817 Belz, eastern Galicia (now Ukraine) |
| Founder | Shalom Rokeach (1783–1855, per YIVO) |
| Leader | Rebbe Yissachar Dov Rokeach (born 1948) |
| Headquarters | Kiryat Belz, Jerusalem |
| Type | Hasidic dynasty |
| Languages | Notes |
Belz is a Hasidic dynasty founded around 1817 by Shalom Rokeach in the town of Belz in eastern Galicia, now in Ukraine. It became the most important Hasidic court in Galicia in the 19th century.[1] The fourth Rebbe, Aharon Rokeach, escaped to Palestine in 1944, and the court was rebuilt in Tel Aviv and later Jerusalem. Its centre is Kiryat Belz in Jerusalem, and it has communities in New York, Antwerp, London, Zurich and Montreal.[1] The present Rebbe, Yissachar Dov Rokeach, was installed in 1966.[1] The Times of Israel describes Belz as the second-largest Hasidic group in Israel.[2]
History
Galicia
Shalom Rokeach (1783–1855), a disciple of Yaakov Yitzchak Horowitz, the Seer of Lublin, set up his court in Belz around 1817 and drew followers from Poland, Galicia and Hungary.[1] The Jewish Virtual Library gives his year of birth as 1779.[3] Mishpacha records that he was appointed rabbi of Belz in 1817.[4] According to the Jerusalem Post, he built the Great Synagogue of Belz in 1843.[5]
His youngest son, Yehoshua Rokeach (1825–1894), made Belz the most important Hasidic branch in Galicia. In 1879 he was among the founders of Machzikei Hadas (Makhzikey ha-Das), an organisation set up to lobby for the ultra-Orthodox community in Galicia and to challenge the secular Shomer Yisrael in Lwów.[1]
The third Rebbe, Yissachar Dov Rokeach, opposed Zionism so strongly that Belz did not join Agudat Yisrael.[1] During the First World War the Russian army destroyed Belz, and the court fled to Hungary. It settled first in Újfehértó (Ratzfert), and in 1919 moved to Munkács, where the Rebbe came into long conflict with Hayyim Elazar Shapira of the Munkács dynasty. He returned to Galicia in 1922, living first in Oleszyce, and re-established the court in Belz in 1925.[1]
Holocaust and rebuilding
Aharon Rokeach (1880–1957) succeeded his father in 1926. In 1943 he and his brother Mordechai Rokeach of Biłgoraj (1903–1949) escaped from the Bochnia ghetto to Budapest. In January 1944, the day before the brothers left for Palestine, Mordechai promised his Hasidim that nothing would happen to Hungarian Jews. YIVO notes that this promise, and the brothers' escape while their followers stayed behind, drew criticism.[1] In Tel Aviv, Aharon rebuilt the court while modifying the traditional Belz opposition to Agudat Yisrael and to a Jewish state.[1] Belz marks the brothers' arrival in the Land of Israel each year as Yom Hahatzalah (the Day of Rescue).[6]
Mishpacha reports that a Belz cheder opened in Bnei Brak in 1952 and that the Tel Aviv cheder had 180 children by 1954.[4]
Fifth Rebbe
After Aharon's death in 1957 the Hasidim accepted his nephew Yissachar Dov Rokeach, born in 1948 and then a nine-year-old orphan, as his successor. He was formally installed in 1966.[1] He married in 1965 in Kiryat Vizhnitz, Bnei Brak. His son Aharon Mordechai Rokeach was born in 1975 and married in Kiryat Belz in 1993.[6] According to Mishpacha, the Rebbe began with "only a few hundred families"; 45 years after he took office, Belz counted "over 7000 families".[6]
The cornerstone of the Belz Great Synagogue in Kiryat Belz was laid in 1984, and the building was inaugurated in 2000.[5]
| # | Rebbe | Dates | Led | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shalom Rokeach | 1783–1855 (YIVO; 1779 in some sources) | c. 1817–1855 | Disciple of the Seer of Lublin[1][3] |
| 2 | Yehoshua Rokeach | 1825–1894 | 1855–1894 | Youngest son of Shalom; co-founder of Machzikei Hadas[1] |
| 3 | Yissachar Dov Rokeach | 1854–1926 | 1894–1926 | Exile in Hungary during and after the First World War[1] |
| 4 | Aharon Rokeach | 1880–1957 | 1926–1957 | Escaped to Palestine in 1944[1] |
| 5 | Yissachar Dov Rokeach | born 1948 | 1966– | Nephew of Aharon; son of Mordechai of Biłgoraj[1] |
Communities
Israel
Kiryat Belz, in northern Jerusalem, is the world centre of the dynasty. It borders Romema, Tel Arza, Kiryat Unsdorf, Kiryat Mattersdorf and Kiryat Sanz. The offices of the Badatz Machzikei Hadas, which issues kashrut certification, are there.[5]
In January 2022 the Rebbe approved the teaching of core subjects (mathematics, science, Hebrew and English) in Belz boys' elementary schools, in a model under which the state would fund the schools. The Times of Israel reported that the change would first involve about 7,000 children.[2]
The rapper Shyne studied with Belz Hasidim in Jerusalem after his release from prison.[7]
United States
In 1981 the New York Times reported that the Belz headquarters was on 16th Avenue in Borough Park, Brooklyn. The Rebbe visited New York that year under heavy police protection, after threats of violence by the rival Satmar Hasidim; days earlier more than 500 Satmar followers had thrown rocks outside a Belz synagogue in Williamsburg.[8] In 1995 Congressman Jerrold Nadler told the House of Representatives that the Belz community was based in his Borough Park district and ran self-help bodies, including a large patient-advocacy organisation, a free medical counselling centre and a low-cost clinic.[9]
In January 2026 the community website World of Belz reported plans, first published in the Belz newspaper HaMachane, for a new housing development called "Kiryas Belz USA" to tackle the Haredi housing shortage.[10]
United Kingdom
London
The British Belz community is centred on Stamford Hill and Upper Clapton in Hackney, north London.[11][12] An early Belz synagogue stood at 90 Commercial Road, London E1, in the East End.[13]
| Name | Address | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chasidey Belz Beth Hamedresh (Bethune Road) | 99 Bethune Road, London N16 5ED | Founded about 1962; member of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations[11] |
| Chasidey Belz Beth Hamedresh (Clapton Common) | 96 Clapton Common, London E5 9AL; also 49 St Kilda's Road, London N16 5BS (from about 2006) | Also called Beth Hemedrash D'Chasidey Belz[14] |
| School | Address | Pupils | Proprietor / head | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass School | 1 Belz Terrace, Clapton Common, London E5 9SN | Boys, 3–11; 508 pupils | Proprietor Moreshet Hatorah Ltd; headteacher Rabbi C. Silbiger | URN 100294. Ofsted describes it as founded in 1973; most recent inspection 9 June 2026[15][16][17] |
| Beis Malka Girls' School | 93 Alkham Road, London N16 6XD | Girls, 2–16; 611 pupils | Proprietor Aaron Grossman; headteacher Mrs G. Wind | URN 100295. Ofsted, 17 December 2024: requires improvement[18][19] |
| Beis Aharon | Stamford Hill | Boys, to age 13 | Run by Belz Hasidim. Rated inadequate in 2022 and good in 2025[20] |
Belz Terrace and listed buildings
The Belz Foundation bought 96 and 98 Clapton Common in 1973 for use as a school.[21] The two early 19th-century villas, Stainforth House (96, locally listed) and The Woodlands (98, Grade II listed), are the last survivors of the villa suburb built by the Tyssen family from 1820. In 2009 the Belz Foundation won planning permission to demolish Stainforth House and build a large extension to The Woodlands.[22] Historic England lists 98 Clapton Common at Grade II (list entry 1226457), first listed on 4 February 1975.[23] It also places "98 and 98a, Clapton Common (also known as 1-4 Belz Terrace)" on its Heritage at Risk Register.[24]
A 2012 report to Hackney Council's Planning Sub-Committee described 96, 98 and 98a Clapton Common as early to mid-19th-century villas that had been converted for use as a nursery, school, library and synagogue.[25] The application it considered (2012/1405, for 96, 98 & 98A Clapton Common, London E5 9AL) was made by the Belz Heritage Foundation, the name then used by Belz Foundation Ltd, with Parritt Leng as agent. It proposed demolishing no. 96 and putting up a school building of two and four storeys with a basement, and a single-storey synagogue with a basement for 200 worshippers facing Overlea Road. A new playground would go behind nos. 98 and 98a. The site would become a school campus, taking in the existing school and nursery, for up to 850 pupils, an increase of 350.[26] The report gave the number of pupils then on the site as 500.[27] It put the existing school, nursery and synagogue floorspace at 1,266 m² and the proposed floorspace at 4,325 m², with car parking cut from 16 general spaces to four and 30 cycle spaces added.[28] The school would open from 08:00 to 18:00 every day, closing only on Jewish holidays, and the synagogue would stay open 24 hours a day, as it already was.[27]
The report stated that no. 98 is listed at Grade II and no. 96 is locally listed, but that no. 98a is not listed. It also said the site faces the Clapton Common Conservation Area but lies outside it. It recorded an earlier permission (2009/0741, granted on 11 December 2009) to demolish no. 96 and put up a part two-, part five-storey building for a new school and synagogue, and listed building consent for repairs to no. 98.[25] The council's conservation officers wrote that the 2009 scheme had not been carried out.[29] Of 86 neighbouring occupiers consulted, seven supported the application and five objected, citing noise, the concentration of schools and synagogues in the area, parking and waste. The Clapton Conservation Areas Advisory Committee objected that demolishing no. 96 and joining a four-storey building to no. 98 would harm the listed building and the conservation area. It cited the architectural historian Ann Robey and the houses' past association with the bishop William Walsham How.[30] The conservation officers accepted the loss of no. 96, saying unsympathetic alterations had stripped much of its heritage significance. They judged the neo-Georgian school building and the stone-and-stucco synagogue to be suitable replacements.[29] The case officer recommended that permission be granted subject to 19 conditions. These included a management plan for the school's shuttle bus, an updated school travel plan, school use limited to 08:00–18:00 and the synagogue limited to synagogue use.[28][31]
Greater Manchester
Belz has a synagogue complex in Salford and a boys' school, Talmud Torah D'chassidie Belz (URN 149571), at 157 Bevendon Square, Salford M7 4TP, which Ofsted rated good in June 2024.[32][33]
Westcliff-on-Sea
Westcliff-on-Sea has a Haredi congregation, Westcliff Charedi Synagogue (charity 1192449), registered on 20 November 2020, is at 16 Hildaville Drive, Westcliff-on-Sea SS0 8NJ. Its office is at 25A Kenilworth Gardens, Westcliff-on-Sea SS0 0BE. The trustees are Avrohom Brief (chair), David Cohen Katz and Joseph Sternberg.[34][35] In 2020 the congregation proposed a synagogue with a mikveh on a disused warehouse site.[36] In December 2025 Southend planners approved turning a house on Fleetwood Avenue into a mikveh. The congregation had been renting the Southend and Westcliff Hebrew Congregation's mikveh in Genesta Road.[37]
Charities
| Charity | Number | Address (register) | Trustees (register) | Finances and notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmon (Belz) Limited | 266130 | 34 Heathland Road, London N16 5LZ | Schloime Rand, Jehudah Baumgarten, Yitzchok Menachem Sternlicht | Registered 31 October 1973; company 01064198. Grants for Jewish religion. Income £435,716 and expenditure £360,436 in the year to 31 March 2025. Rand is also a trustee of Grand Belz Ltd and the Belz Foundation; Baumgarten of The Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass Trust[38][39] |
| Belz Foundation Ltd (formerly The Belz Heritage Foundation Ltd) | 1112150 | 1 Belz Terrace, London E5 9SN | Schloime Rand, Yitzchok Menachem Sternlicht | Company 05423453, incorporated 13 April 2005 (renamed 30 December 2015); charity registered 18 November 2005. Income £1,201,443 and expenditure £1,180,552 in the year to 31 March 2025[40][41] |
| Belz Israel Charitable Trust | 1083890 | 48 Lynmouth Road, London N16 6XL | Pinchos Fink, Martin Imann, Charles Silbiger | Registered 30 November 2000. Education, poverty relief and overseas aid in Hackney and Israel. Income £755,055 and expenditure £662,382 in the year to 31 December 2025[42] |
| Dover Sholem Community Trust (formerly Children Ahead) | 1138710 | 1 Belz Terrace, London E5 9SN | Haim Dov Francoz | Registered 29 October 2010. Income £3,212,183 in the year to 31 March 2025. Subject of a Charity Commission inquiry from September 2025 (see below)[43][44] |
| Friends of Mercaz Hatorah Belz Macnivka | 1126075 | 83–95 Bethune Road, London N16 5ED | Elozer Yonah Brander (chair), Chaye Gitel Krautwirt, Menachem Lieber | Registered 26 September 2008. Supports the Mercaz Hatorah Belz Machnovka in Jerusalem. Subject of a Charity Commission inquiry from May 2025 (see below)[45][46] |
| Kollel D'chasidei Belz Ltd | 1186741 | 99 Bethune Road, London N16 5ED | Cholem Friedman, Getzel Weiss | Registered 4 December 2019; company 12214390. Income £233,257 in the year to 31 October 2025[47] |
| Belz Relief Limited | 1192313 | 140 High Road, London N15 6JN | Benny Hoffman (chair), Hirsch Rottenberg, David Spitzer | Registered 12 November 2020. Poverty relief. Income £65,317 in the year to 30 June 2025[48] |
| Belz Gemach Fund | 1046707 | Loan fund; removed from the register. Last accounts for the year to 31 December 2017[49] | ||
| Chassidei Belz Manchester | 326480 | c/o Haffner Hoff Ltd, 2nd Floor, Parkgates, Bury New Road, Prestwich, Manchester M25 0TL | Jehuda Waldman, Nachman Vogiel, Benjamin Leitner | Registered 12 January 1984. Helps fund a synagogue complex in Salford. Income £530,145 in the year to 5 April 2025[32] |
| Belz Communities | 1111457 | 2 Merrybower Road, Salford M7 4HE | Itzchak Grosz, David Neuwirth, Joshua Waldman | Registered 26 September 2005. After-school and recreational services. Income £359,931 in the year to 5 April 2025[50] |
| Belz Machnovka (M/C) Ltd | 1124718 | 40 Wellington Street East, Salford M7 4DW | David Spitzer, Shimon Yisroel Brander, Abraham Eliezer Waldman | Registered 26 June 2008; company 06561919. Repays loans for the purchase of premises. Income £171,072 in the year to 30 April 2025[51] |
| The Bersam Trust | 526452 | 2 Merrybower Road, Salford M7 4HE | Ignatius Moskovitz, Jehuda Waldman, Abraham Vogiel, Joshua Waldman | Same address as Belz Communities. Income £233,531 in the year to 31 March 2025[52] |
| British Friends of Ezrat Yisrael Kiryat Sefer | 1136917 | 66 Wellington Street East, Salford M7 4DW | Refoel Halpern, Nissim Hassan, David Neuwirth | Registered 15 July 2010. Grants in Manchester and Israel. Income £4,225,000 and expenditure £4,208,154 in the year to 31 July 2025. Neuwirth is also a trustee of Belz Communities[53][54] |
Kiryat Sefer, named in the last charity, is another name for Modi'in Illit, one of the largest Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.[55] The International Court of Justice found in 2024 that Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem "have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law".[56]
Politics
In Israel Belz is part of the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael wing of United Torah Judaism (UTJ), the joint list formed in 1992 by Agudat Yisrael and the Lithuanian Degel HaTorah. UTJ won seven seats in the 25th Knesset and has been a key partner of Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition bloc.[57] In July 2025 UTJ left Netanyahu's coalition over a bill to limit draft exemptions for Haredi men.[58][59] The Jerusalem Post reported in September 2026 that UTJ could in theory help an anti-Netanyahu bloc form a government.[60]
A blog post by Eitan Chikli on the Times of Israel blogs platform in August 2026 set out the background. It said Agudat Yisrael had been founded in Katowice in 1912 by Orthodox rabbis from Eastern Europe who rejected assimilation and Zionism. In June 1947 David Ben-Gurion, for the Jewish Agency, negotiated a "status quo agreement" with Agudat Yisrael covering the Sabbath in public institutions, kashrut, the jurisdiction of religious courts over marriage and divorce, and public funding for an autonomous religious school system. In 1988 Rabbi Elazar Shach broke with Agudat Yisrael, which the post described as "then dominated by Hasidic groups", and founded Degel HaTorah. The post said the joint UTJ list had split at times, notably in 2004, before reuniting, and that in 2020 the share of places on the list, which had previously favoured Agudat Yisrael, was rebalanced. Within UTJ, according to the post, Agudat Yisrael represents the Hasidic camp and Degel HaTorah the Lithuanian camp, and major political decisions formally need the approval of a council of senior rabbis.[61]
The post listed the party's priorities as funding for yeshivas and schools, support for families, the religious status quo and, above all, the exemption of yeshiva students from military service. It said UTJ had been allied with Likud under Netanyahu since the 1990s: the Haredi parties supplied seats, and Likud protected their education system, their budgets and the status of yeshiva students. It described 2025 and 2026 as a period of parliamentary boycotts, threats to leave the coalition, arrests of yeshiva students who refused the draft and demonstrations at military sites. In the author's view, a Basic Law passed in July 2026 that defined Torah study as a "fundamental value" of the Jewish people and the state deepened the polarisation.[61]
In September 2026 Belz moved to replace its long-serving Knesset member Yisrael Eichler with Elyakim Stark, chairman of the Belz executive committee.[62] Stark and Meir Porush of Shlomei Emunim then registered a new party, Homat Torat Yisrael ("Wall of the Torah of Israel"), alleging discrimination by the Ger-led "Central Faction".[63] UTJ submitted its slate as an alliance of three parties: Degel HaTorah, Agudat Yisrael and the new party. Stark was sixth on the list. Belz and Shlomei Emunim said the move was not a withdrawal from Agudat Yisrael.[64]
Controversies
Allegations and investigations
- Driving ban, 2015. In May 2015 The Jewish Chronicle reported that Belz rabbis in Stamford Hill had told parents in a letter that women driving went against "the traditional rules of modesty in our camp" and against the norms of Hasidic institutions. Leaders of Belz educational institutions signed the letter and the community's rabbis endorsed it. It said that from August children would be barred from Belz schools if their mothers drove them there, and that the Belzer Rebbe in Israel, Yissachar Dov Rokeach, had advised them to adopt the policy. Dina Brawer, UK ambassador of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, said the ban was about men's power and control over women, and compared it with the ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia. The paper wrote that, although many Hasidic women did not drive, this was thought to be the first formal declaration against the practice in the UK. It added that some Hasidic groups, such as Lubavitch, had no such policy. The local Belz women's organisation, Neshei Belz, issued a statement. It said its members valued belonging to a community that respected the highest standards of refinement, morality and dignity, and that they saw driving as a high-pressure activity in which their values could be compromised by exposure to road rage, bad language and other inappropriate behaviour. It added that they did not disrespect people who lived differently or the choices they made. The paper also noted that the community's main boys' and girls' schools, Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass and Beis Malka, were at that time rated good by Ofsted.[65] In June 2015 the Equality and Human Rights Commission said the ruling was unlawful.[12] The schools' chief executive, Ahron Klein, then said that no children would be barred from the TTMH Belz Day School or Beis Malka Girls' School.[66]
- Charity Commission inquiry, 2025. In May 2025 the Charity Commission opened a class inquiry after HMRC identified charities whose cheques, worth about £22 million, had been cashed. Friends of Mercaz Hatorah Belz Macnivka was among the first ten charities named.[46] Dover Sholem Community Trust, registered at 1 Belz Terrace, was added in September 2025.[44][43] An inquiry is not a finding of wrongdoing.
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 David Assaf, Belz Hasidic Dynasty YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Times of Israel, Belz Hasidic sect to begin teaching core curriculum, more communities may follow Times of Israel, 27 January 2022 (archived 22 April 2025), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Jewish Virtual Library, Orthodox Judaism: Belz Hasidic Dynasty Jewish Virtual Library, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Dovi Safier and Yehuda Geberer, A Kingdom Rebuilt: How Rav Aharon Rokeach brought postwar Belz back to life Mishpacha, 9 February 2022, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Alex Winston, Real estate: Unveiling Jerusalem's gem of Kiryat Belz Jerusalem Post, 11 August 2024, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Yeruchem Yitzchak Landesman, Born to Lead Mishpacha, 24 June 2020, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ CrownHeights.info, Shyne: The Bad-Boy Rap Star Who's Now a Chassid CrownHeights.info, 30 July 2011, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Ari L. Goldman, Guard set for Belz rabbi as Hasidic tension grows The New York Times, 3 March 1981 (archived 28 December 2023), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Jerrold Nadler, Tribute to Rabbi Yisocher Dov Rokeach, the Belzer Rebbe, upon his visit to New York Congressional Record, 20 June 1995, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ World of Belz, New Belz settlement in the USA worldofbelz.org, 1 January 2026 (archived 14 January 2026), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 JCR-UK, Chasidey Beltz Beth Hemedrash, Stamford Hill, London N16 JewishGen, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Jane Martinson, Ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect's female driver ban 'unlawful and discriminatory' The Guardian, 5 June 2015, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Leon Silver, Memories of the Belzer synagogue Jewish East End of London (archived 20 April 2026), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ JCR-UK, Chasidey Belz Beth Hemedrash, Clapton Common, London E5 JewishGen, 16 March 2015, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Department for Education, Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass School, URN 100294 Get Information about Schools, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Ofsted, Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass School: emergency inspection report Ofsted, 5 December 2019, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Ofsted, Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass School Ofsted, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Department for Education, Beis Malka Girls' School, URN 100295 Get Information about Schools, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Ofsted, Beis Malka Girls' School Ofsted, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Simon Rocker, Chasidic boys' school in Stamford Hill receives good rating from Ofsted The Jewish Chronicle, 8 September 2025, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Hackney Society, Spaces, issue 71 Hackney Society, winter 2021, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Hackney Society, Hackney Walks No. 8: Clapton Common and its environs Hackney Society, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Historic England, 98, Clapton Common E5 National Heritage List for England (archived 7 January 2026), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Historic England, 98 and 98a, Clapton Common (also known as 1-4 Belz Terrace) E5 - Hackney Heritage at Risk Register (archived 16 June 2025), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 London Borough of Hackney, Planning Sub-Committee – 15/08/2012: 96, 98 & 98A Clapton Common, London E5 9AL (application 2012/1405) Hackney Council, report by Caroline Ozor, 15 August 2012, p. 3 (copy supplied by David), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ London Borough of Hackney, Planning Sub-Committee – 15/08/2012: 96, 98 & 98A Clapton Common, London E5 9AL (application 2012/1405) Hackney Council, report by Caroline Ozor, 15 August 2012, p. 1 (copy supplied by David), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 London Borough of Hackney, Planning Sub-Committee – 15/08/2012: 96, 98 & 98A Clapton Common, London E5 9AL (application 2012/1405) Hackney Council, report by Caroline Ozor, 15 August 2012, pp. 14 and 17 (copy supplied by David), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 London Borough of Hackney, Planning Sub-Committee – 15/08/2012: 96, 98 & 98A Clapton Common, London E5 9AL (application 2012/1405) Hackney Council, report by Caroline Ozor, 15 August 2012, p. 2 (copy supplied by David), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 London Borough of Hackney, Planning Sub-Committee – 15/08/2012: 96, 98 & 98A Clapton Common, London E5 9AL (application 2012/1405) Hackney Council, report by Caroline Ozor, 15 August 2012, pp. 10–12 (copy supplied by David), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ London Borough of Hackney, Planning Sub-Committee – 15/08/2012: 96, 98 & 98A Clapton Common, London E5 9AL (application 2012/1405) Hackney Council, report by Caroline Ozor, 15 August 2012, pp. 4–8 (copy supplied by David), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ London Borough of Hackney, Planning Sub-Committee – 15/08/2012: 96, 98 & 98A Clapton Common, London E5 9AL (application 2012/1405) Hackney Council, report by Caroline Ozor, 15 August 2012, pp. 18–22 (copy supplied by David), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 Charity Commission, Chassidei Belz Manchester, charity 326480 Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Ofsted, Inspection of Talmud Torah D'chassidie Belz Ofsted, 4–6 June 2024, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Westcliff Charedi Synagogue, charity 1192449 Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ JCR-UK, Westcliff Charedi Synagogue JewishGen, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Aleks Phillips, Westcliff Charedim reveal plans for a synagogue on warehouse site The Jewish Chronicle, 11 November 2020, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Christine Sexton, Westcliff home approved to become new Jewish ritual bath Echo, 19 December 2025, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Cosmon (Belz) Limited, charity 266130 Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Cosmon (Belz) Limited: trustees Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Companies House, Belz Foundation Ltd, company 05423453 Companies House, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Belz Foundation Ltd, charity 1112150 Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Belz Israel Charitable Trust, charity 1083890 Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 43.0 43.1 Charity Commission, Dover Sholem Community Trust, charity 1138710 Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 44.0 44.1 Charlie Moloney, Commission investigates 10 further charities in £22m cashed cheques probe Third Sector, 1 September 2025 (archived 11 September 2025), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Friends of Mercaz Hatorah Belz Macnivka, charity 1126075 Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 46.0 46.1 Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Kollel D'chasidei Belz Ltd, charity 1186741 Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Belz Relief Limited, charity 1192313 Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Belz Gemach Fund, charity 1046707 Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Belz Communities, charity 1111457 Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Belz Machnovka (M/C) Ltd, charity 1124718 Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, The Bersam Trust, charity 526452 Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, British Friends of Ezrat Yisrael Kiryat Sefer, charity 1136917 Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, British Friends of Ezrat Yisrael Kiryat Sefer: trustees Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Jacob Magid, Black is the new orange: 30% of settlers are now Haredim Times of Israel, 18 July 2017 (archived 14 July 2026), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ International Court of Justice, Summary of the Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024 icj-cij.org, 19 July 2024, accessed 26 October 2026.
- ↑ Jerusalem Post, What do Arye Deri's Shas and Yakov Asher's United Torah Judaism stand for? Jerusalem Post, 10 September 2026, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Dan Williams, Israel Ultra-Orthodox Party Quits Netanyahu's Coalition Bloomberg, 15 July 2025 (archived 28 August 2025), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Alex Lederman, Controlling the Coalition's Collapse Israel Policy Forum, 19 May 2026 (archived 9 October 2026), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Jerusalem Post, Haredi alliance with Benjamin Netanyahu shifts as Moshe Gafni ousted from Degel Hatorah Jerusalem Post, 6 September 2026, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 61.0 61.1 Eitan Chikli, United Torah Judaism: Lithuanian and Hasidic Judaism at the Heart of Israeli Politics Times of Israel blogs, 23 August 2026 (full text supplied by David), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Joseph Feldman, Charedi political shakeup continues as Belz moves to replace Eichler VIN News, 7 September 2026, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Israel National News, Last minute drama in United Torah Judaism party Israel National News, 8 September 2026, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ The Yeshiva World, After split and hours of turmoil, UTJ submits party slate The Yeshiva World, 9 September 2026, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Simon Rocker, Stamford Hill sect bans women drivers The Jewish Chronicle, 28 May 2015 (full text supplied by David), accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Channel 4 News, Jewish sect schools back down over driving ban Channel 4 News, 5 June 2015, accessed 27 October 2026.