Before Trust
Stamford Hill grant-making trust (formerly The Kehal Machzikei Hadass Trust) funding Belz and other Orthodox institutions
| Before Trust
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Other |
| Founded | 1990-03-12 (registered) |
| Registration ID | Registered charity 802882 |
| Headquarters | London N16 |
| Area served | Barnet, Brent, Hackney, Haringey, Israel, Poland |
Before Trust (formerly The Kehal Machzikei Hadass Trust) was established by deed of trust of 25 July 1989 and registered on 12 March 1990; register areas are Barnet, Brent, Hackney, Haringey, Israel and Poland.[1] Its trustees are Lazar Lerner and Mordechai Eizenbach, with a principal address in London N16; the accounts state that it is "not the intention" to appoint new trustees (PDF p.3–4).[2] It funds religious, educational and other institutions "in England and aboard [sic]" and individuals in poverty. In the year to 31 March 2025 income was £218,745 (2024: £139,790) and grantmaking £209,149 (PDF p.4, 7).[2]
Objects and activities
The charity's registered objects read: "TO OR TOWARDS OR IN FURTHERANCE OR FOR THE BENEFIT OF SUCH ONE OR MORE CHARITIES, CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS OR CHARITABLE PURPOSES IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD IN SUCH SHARES AND IN SUCH MANNER AS THE TRUSTEES IN THEIR ABSOLUTE DISCRETION MAY FROM TIME TO TIME DETERMINE."[1]
The register describes its activities as: "Grantmaking for the relief of poverty, the advancement the Orthodox Jewish religion and education."[1]
Register classifications: Education/training, The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty, Religious Activities.[1]
Areas of operation recorded on the register: Barnet, Brent, Hackney, Haringey, Israel, Poland.[1]
Trustees
Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[1]
| Trustee | Appointed | Chair | Other trusteeships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lazar Lerner | not recorded | — | |
| Mordechai Eizenbach | 2023-01-20 | — |
Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)
| Capture date | Trustees listed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-01-14 | Leizer Lerner | [3] |
Finances
| Financial year end | Income | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-03-31 | £98,966 | £94,480 |
| 2022-03-31 | £159,297 | £143,153 |
| 2023-03-31 | £181,094 | £193,432 |
| 2024-03-31 | £139,790 | £143,060 |
| 2025-03-31 | £218,745 | £211,052 |
Source: register annual-return history.[1]
Archived accounts
Accounts no longer on the live register were found in the UK Government Web Archive:
- Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2014[4]
- Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2015[5]
- Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2016[6]
- Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2017[7]
- Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2018[8]
Funding in Israel
- FY2025 grants to institutions £180,670: Belz Synagogue £36,550, Maaseh Rokeach £33,200, Kollel Jerusalem £24,200, Ahavat Chesed £23,370, Mercaz Torah Vechesed Ltd £22,700, Beis Frieda £10,450 and others under £10,000 £30,200; individuals (relief of poverty) £27,919. No recipient's country is stated (PDF p.9–10).[2]
Israeli partners
No recipient is identified as Israeli; "Kollel Jerusalem" is named without an address.[2]
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 |
|---|---|
| "Kollel Jerusalem" – no address or neighbourhood is given.[2] | Not established |
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;[9] 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.[10][11][12][13] 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.[14]
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).[15] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[16]
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.[17]
Grants recorded by 360Giving
No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[18]
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.[19]
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.[20]
Parliament
Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Before Trust", "Kehal Machzikei Hadass Trust" returned 7 contributions in total; those not listed above were not established to concern this charity.[21]
Web archive
The UK Government Web Archive holds 2 archived Charity Commission register pages used in this profile (cited in the sections above). The 2021 archived full print showed the status "Charity reporting is up to date" and "Other regulators: No information available".[3]
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 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), extract dated 14 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Charity Commission, Before Trust (802882): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 15 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Register entry 802882, full print (capture of 20210114) UK Government Web Archive.
- ↑ Before Trust accounts, year ended 2014-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
- ↑ Before Trust accounts, year ended 2015-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
- ↑ Before Trust accounts, year ended 2016-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
- ↑ Before Trust accounts, year ended 2017-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
- ↑ Before Trust accounts, year ended 2018-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200105).
- ↑ 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-12 charities, all retrieved successfully on 15 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" section; none was shown for any of them. The pages showed reporting status – "Charity reporting is up to date (on time)" for 22 charities, "Removed charity" for Mifal Tzedukas and Keren Yaacov Limited, and "Charity reporting is up to date (256 days late)" for Friends of Eidah Chareidis Orthodox Council of Jerusalem.
- ↑ 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), both retrieved 15 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Charity regulator opens inquiry into charities working in illegal Israeli settlements GOV.UK, 5 August 2026, retrieved 15 October 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, downloaded October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-12 charity names found no matching Scottish registration (the only hits were unrelated names: Madrasatul Imam Mohammad Zakariya and Harris Kaufman Trust).
- ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 15 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-12 charity names returned zero results).
- ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Before Trust' The Gazette, searched 15 October 2026.
- ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-802882 360Giving, queried 15 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-12 screening covered 390 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages and archived accounts (UK Government Web Archive), Companies House officers of the six charitable companies and of related companies named in the accounts (Millage Limited, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (United Kingdom) Limited and Ezer Bekovoid Limited), and trustees, examiners, donors and grant recipients named in the accounts read for this batch; matching on surname plus forename tokens, reviewed manually. No forename-and-surname match for any person was found; the only token matches were generic words in organisation names ("Trust", "Limited", "Foundation", "Society", "International") and surname-only coincidences (Green, Anderson, Weiss, Frank, Grace, Friedman, Fox, Ward); 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.
- ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Before Trust" Hansard, queried 15 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).