British Friends of Tzohar

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Edgware trust raising funds for the Israeli religious-Zionist rabbinic organisation Tzohar; its accounts name no recipient

British Friends of Tzohar

Type Trust
Founded 2019-05-24 (registered)
Registration ID Registered charity 1183591
Headquarters Edgware HA8
Area served Throughout England And Wales, Israel
Key people Joel Messod Silberstein (chair)
Website https://tzohar-eng.org/

British Friends of Tzohar (Charity number: 1183591) is a registered charity.[1]

  • Charity registered: 24 May 2019 (Registered)[1]
  • Charity contact address: 6 Purcells Avenue, Edgware, Middlesex, Ha8 8dt[2]

Objects and activities

The charity's registered objects read: "THE OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY ARE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE JEWISH RELIGION FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT.THIS WILL BE ACHIEVED THROUGH VARIOUS ACTIVITIES OF THE CHARITY, INCLUDING:I)STRENGTHENING THE ATTACHMENT OF JEWS TO JUDAISM BY MAKING JEWISH CUSTOMS AND PRACTICE MORE ACCESSIBLE TO THOSE WHO ARE NOT RELIGIOUSLY OBSERVANT, THROUGH EDUCATION AND THE PROVISION OF AND ACCESS TO JEWISH RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION, CELEBRATIONS AND SERVICES THAT ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION FROM PEOPLE IRRESPECTIVE OF THEIR PREVIOUS LEVEL OF RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE;II)TO ASSIST JEWISH PEOPLE IN FORMALLY ESTABLISHING THEIR STATUS IN JEWISH RELIGIOUS LAW (HALACHA), PARTICULARLY IN CASES WHERE THE RELEVANT DOCUMENTS HAVE BEEN DESTROYED BY THE NAZI REGIME OR THE SOVIET UNION, THUS MAKING IT POSSIBLE FOR THEM AND THEIR DESCENDANTS TO PARTICIPATE IN JEWISH LIFE, CUSTOM AND PRACTICE."[3]

The register describes its activities as: "The objectives of the trust are the advancement of the Jewish religion for the public benefit. This will be achieved through various activities of the charity, to advance the Jewish religion for the public benefit, including making Jewish customs and practices more readily accessible to those who are not religiously observant and assisting Jewish people in formally establishing their status in Jew"[3]

Register classifications: Religious Activities.[3]

Areas of operation recorded on the register: Throughout England And Wales, Israel.[3]

People

Trustees

Name Role Date of appointment Other trusteeships
Guido Baruch Sharage Rauch Trustee 20 May 2019 None on record
Margaret Gioia Rothem Trustee 4 December 2017 Shaare Zedek Uk (charity number: 262870)
Joel Messod Silberstein Chair 28 October 2021 British Friends of Ariel University (charity number: 1002872) | Sephardi Kashrut Authority (charity number: 259337) | Israel Magen Trust UK (charity number: 1202788) | UK Friends Of Eretz Hemdah (charity number: 1084816) | The British Friends of Yeshivat Hakotel (charity number: 1117836) | Mizrachi (UK) Israel Support Trust (charity number: 1137199)

Source: Charity Commission register.[1]

Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)

Trustees shown in archived register pages
Capture date Trustees listed Source
2021-01-17 Stanley Bloom (from 04 December 2017) – also trustee of British Friends of Kishorit; Margaret Gioia Rothem (chair) (from 04 December 2017) – also trustee of Shaare Zedek UK; Guido Baruch Sharage Rauch (from 20 May 2019) [4]

Joel Messod Silberstein is also a register trustee of British Friends of Ariel University (1002872), Israel Magen Trust UK (1202788), Mizrachi (UK) Israel Support Trust (1137199), Sephardi Kashrut Authority (259337), The British Friends of Yeshivat Hakotel (1117836) and UK Friends of Eretz Hemdah (1084816); Margaret Gioia Rothem of Shaare Zedek UK (262870).[3] Ariel University is in the settlement of Ariel; this note records the trusteeship only.

Finances

Financial year end Total income Total expenditure Income from donations and legacies Expenditure on charitable activities Grants to institutions Total funds (assets less liabilities) Cash Employees Volunteers Accounts received
31 December 2020 £30,710 £19,940 Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed 0 31 October 2021 (due 31 October 2021)
31 December 2021 £103,512 £111,566 Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed 0 26 October 2022 (due 31 October 2022)
31 December 2022 £79,902 £82,673 Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed 4 31 October 2023 (due 31 October 2023)
31 December 2023 £99,908 £101,064 Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed 4 29 October 2024 (due 31 October 2024)
31 December 2024 £160,893 £72,148 Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed Not disclosed 0 9 October 2025 (due 31 October 2025)

Source: Charity Commission financial history and register data.[5] The Commission records grant-making as the charity's main activity.[2] Trustee payments: "No trustees receive any remuneration, payments or benefits from the charity."[2]

Funding in Israel

  • FY2024 charitable activities £70,370 (2023: £100,221); the recipient is not named (PDF p.5).[6]

Israeli partners

Not named in the accounts beyond the charity's name.[6] The register lists the website tzohar-eng.org, which presents Tzohar as offering "Jewish Culture & Community for Observant & Secular Jews" in Israel, including weddings, kashrut and Jewish-ancestry services.[3][7]

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.

Evidence of activity beyond the 1949 armistice line
Finding Confidence
No place in Israel or the occupied territories is named.[6] Not established

Support for the IDF: No IDF or military funding is stated in the accounts.[6] The Tzohar website menu includes a "Parent's Prayer for Child Enlisting to IDF", a religious text; this is not evidence of funding.[7]

Controversies and conflicts

Charity Commission register

  • 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]
  • Arithmetic error. The statement of financial activities prints net movement in funds as £89,745, although income of £160,893 less expenditure of £72,148 is £88,745 – the figure the report gives, in brackets as if negative ("£(88,745)") (PDF p.2, 5).[6]
  • Recipient not named. The accounts say the charity "raised funds for the general objectives" but do not name the recipient of the £70,370 (PDF p.2, 5).[6]

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.[3] No title registers were purchased; the HM Land Registry interactive search blocked automated access.[20]

US counterparts (ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer)

Organisation EIN Latest filing year Revenue (US$) Expenses (US$)
American Friends Of Tzohar[21] 133579958 2019 280,922 295,419

These US organisations share the name or beneficiary of the UK charity; no financial flows between them and the UK charity were established.

Parliament

Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Friends of Tzohar", "Tzohar" returned 0 contributions in total.[22]

Web archive

  • tzohar-eng.org: 9 yearly captures, first 2018-07-02, last 2026-01-01.[23]

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".[4]

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Charity Commission for England and Wales, BRITISH FRIENDS OF TZOHAR trustees Charity Commission for England and Wales, accessed 13 October 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Charity Commission for England and Wales, BRITISH FRIENDS OF TZOHAR overview Charity Commission for England and Wales, accessed 13 October 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 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, charity_other_names), extract dated 14 October 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Register entry 1183591, full print (capture of 20210117) UK Government Web Archive.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Charity Commission for England and Wales, BRITISH FRIENDS OF TZOHAR financial history Charity Commission for England and Wales, accessed 13 October 2026; figures from the Commission's public register data extract dated 13 October 2026.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Charity Commission, British Friends of Tzohar (1183591): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 16 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Tzohar, tzohar-eng.org home page Wayback Machine, capture of 1 January 2026 (site title "Tzohar | Jewish Culture & Community for Observant & Secular Jews Israel"; menu items include Wedding, Kashrut, Shorashim – Jewish Ancestry, Prenuptial Agreement, "For the Bereaved" and "Parent's Prayer for Child Enlisting to IDF").
  8. ↑ Charity Commission for England and Wales, public register data extract (trustee table, trustee ID 12613491), 13 October 2026.
  9. ↑ 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-14 charities, all retrieved successfully on 16 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" section; none was shown for any of them. Nineteen registered charities showed "Charity reporting is up to date (on time)"; Friends of the Israel Cancer Association showed "up to date (13 days late)" and The Bertie Black Foundation "up to date (82 days late)"; British Friends of Neve Shalom, Mesila UK, The Friends of Ohr Akiva Institutions and Etz Chaim Foundation showed "Removed charity".
  10. ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
  11. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
  12. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
  13. ↑ 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).
  14. ↑ Charity Commission, Charity regulator opens inquiry into charities working in illegal Israeli settlements GOV.UK, 5 August 2026 (a fact-finding statutory class inquiry initially involving 8 charities which "are not being publicly named at this time").
  15. ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, export dated 14 October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-14 charity names found no matching Scottish registration.
  16. ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 16 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-14 charity names returned zero results).
  17. ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Tzohar' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
  18. ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-1183591 360Giving, queried 16 October 2026.
  19. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-14 screening covered 282 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, Companies House officers of the eight charitable companies, directors of the dissolved Etz Chaim Foundation company and of Mesila UK Limited, related companies and charities named in the accounts (including Bestgreat Ltd, Jonvan Properties, One Shakespeare Limited, Beauland Limited, Tifereth Benevolent Fund Limited and Torah Temimah Trust) and trustees, examiners and donors named in the accounts read for this batch; matching on surname plus forename tokens, reviewed manually. No forename-and-surname match for any person or company was found; the only token matches were surname-only coincidences (for example Cohen and Jones); lists downloaded October 2026.
  20. ↑ 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.
  21. ↑ American Friends Of Tzohar – Nonprofit Explorer ProPublica, viewed 16 October 2026.
  22. ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Tzohar" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).
  23. ↑ Internet Archive CDX index for tzohar-eng.org Wayback Machine, queried 16 October 2026.
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