![UOHC Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/UOHC_Logo.jpg)
The Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations is an umbrella organisation of
Haredi
Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...
Jewish communities in London, and has an estimated membership of over 6,000.
It was founded in 1926, with the stated mission "to protect traditional Judaism", and has an affiliation of over a hundred synagogues and educational institutions. It caters for all aspects of Haredi Jewish life in London, and operates mainly in the suburbs of
Stamford Hill
Stamford Hill is an area in Inner London, England, about 5.5 miles north-east of Charing Cross. The neighbourhood is a sub-district of Hackney, the major component of the London Borough of Hackney, and is known for its Hasidic community, the ...
,
Golders Green
Golders Green is an area in the London Borough of Barnet in England. A smaller suburban linear settlement, near a farm and public grazing area green of medieval origins, dates to the early 19th century. Its bulk forms a late 19th century and ea ...
,
Hendon
Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...
, and
Edgware
Edgware () is a suburban town in northern Greater London, mostly in the London Borough of Barnet but with small parts falling in the London Borough of Harrow and in the London Borough of Brent. Edgware is centred north-northwest of Charing Cros ...
.
Activities
*The Kedassia
kashruth organisation
*UOHC is responsible for the management of the
Beis Brucha Mother & Baby Home, which provides short-term care for mothers and new-born babies after childbirth.
*North London
Chevra Kadisha
The term ''Chevra kadisha'' (Modern Hebrew: חֶבְרָה קַדִּישָׁא) gained its modern sense of "burial society" in the nineteenth century. It is an organization of Jewish men and women who see to it that the bodies of deceased Je ...
*North West London Chevra Kadisha
*
Beth Din
A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...
for litigation in Stamford Hill and Golders Green
*''Beis Horo'o'' (advice centre for questions of Jewish Law)
Rabbinate
The spiritual leadership of UOHC is in the hands of its rabbinate, led by the
Av Beis Din
The ''av beit din'' ( ''ʾabh bêth dîn'', "chief of the court" or "chief justice"), also spelled ''av beis din'' or ''abh beth din'' and abbreviated ABD (), was the second-highest-ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Temple period, ...
. Its first head was Rabbi Avigdor Schonfeld. He was succeeded by his son,
Solomon Schonfeld
Rabbi Solomon Schonfeld (21 February 1912 – 6 February 1984) was a British Rabbi who was honoured as a British Hero of the Holocaust for saving the lives of thousands of Jews.
Early life and career
Schonfeld was the second son of Rabbi Av ...
, who also founded the Jewish Secondary School Movement.
From 1955 to 2000, the Av Beis Din was the
posek
In Jewish law, a ''Posek'' ( he, פוסק , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the position of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities a ...
, Rabbi
Chanoch Dov Padwa
Rabbi Chanoch Dov Padwa (17 August 1908 – 16 August 2000) was a world-renowned Orthodox Jewish posek, Talmudist and rabbinic leader.
Early years
Chanoch Dov Padwa was born on 17 August 1908 (20 Av 5668 in the Hebrew calendar) in Busk, a smal ...
. He was succeeded in 2000 by the present incumbent, his son, Rabbi
Ephraim Padwa
Rabbi Ephraim Padwa (born 1940) is a senior Haredi rabbi in London. He is rabbinical head of the Stamford Hill-based Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, succeeding his father Chanoch Dov Padwa, who died in August 2000. Padwa is an internation ...
. In addition to the Av Beis Din, the following people serve as members of the rabbinate: Rabbi Sholom Friedman, Rabbi Zev Feldman, Rabbi Shlomo Freshwater, Rabbi Yisroel Meir Greenberg, Rabbi Aharon Dovid Dünner, and Rabbi Joseph Padwa. Members of the rabbinate are often styled "Dayan".
The Rosh Beis Din was Rabbi
Josef Hirsch Dunner
Rabbi Josef Hirsch Dunner (4 January 1913 – 1 April 2007), aka "Harav Yosef Tzvi Halevi Dunner", was a distinguished hareidi rabbi from Germany, who spent most of his life in London, England. He served as Chief Rabbi of East Prussia before Wo ...
until his death in 2007. Josef Dunner named his son, Rabbi Ahron Dovid Dünner, as his desired successor to the post.
The executive committee of UOHC, however, resolved to discontinue the title of Rosh Beis Din, leaving Rabbi
Ephraim Padwa
Rabbi Ephraim Padwa (born 1940) is a senior Haredi rabbi in London. He is rabbinical head of the Stamford Hill-based Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, succeeding his father Chanoch Dov Padwa, who died in August 2000. Padwa is an internation ...
as the sole rabbinical head of the UOHC.
Lay management
The lay management is its executive committee, elected triennially by the UOHC, whose members are appointed by the constituent synagogues.
Controversies
Neturei Karta funding controversy
In July 2006, ''
The Jewish Chronicle
''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
'' wrote that the UOHC's accounts appeared to show it had given a London-based charity associated with
Neturei Karta
Neturei Karta (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: , , ) is a religious group of Haredi Jews, formally created in Jerusalem, then in Mandatory Palestine, in 1938, splitting off from Agudas Yisrael. Neturei Karta opposes Zionism and calls for a "pea ...
more than £58,000 in grants. This prompted some members of the Hendon Adath Yisroel Synagogue to review its affiliation with the UOHC. The synagogue resolved to remain affiliated.
Sexual abuse scandal
In October 2012, a blog post appeared on the blog
If You Tickle Us
If You Tickle Us is a UK Jewish blog and Twitter account run by a Haredi blogger which mainly covers issues concerning the Haredi communities of Stamford Hill and Golders Green.
Coverage of sexual abuse scandal
The blog's popularity flourished ...
which suggested that Chaim Halpern, rabbi of a UOHC synagogue and a member of the UOHC rabbinate, was accused of inappropriate sexual conduct. It later became clear that the accusation was of sexual impropriety with around thirty women that came to him for counselling.
A group of London rabbis and religious judges issued a statement stating that the rabbi was "not fit and proper to act in any rabbinic capacity", a decision reached after "extensive investigations, including interviews with alleged victims",[ and the rabbi was forced to resign from all public positions, including his position on the ]Beth Din
A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...
.
After accusations of attempting a whitewash, and a growing fear among the UOHC that Golders Green synagogues would secede from the union in protest at its handling of the case, the union expelled the rabbi's synagogue from the union. However, the union later retracted its expulsion, saying it was the result of a "misunderstanding". One synagogue left the union because its "lack of willingness or ability" to deal with the issue was "a matter of great embarrassment". The saga exposed deep divisions between the Haredim in Golders Green, whose local rabbis attempted to remove the rabbi from all positions of authority, and those in Stamford Hill, whose Jewish community is predominantly Hasidic.[
]
Position on child abuse
In 2013, a Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
exposé secretly filmed the head of the UOHC, Ephraim Padwa
Rabbi Ephraim Padwa (born 1940) is a senior Haredi rabbi in London. He is rabbinical head of the Stamford Hill-based Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, succeeding his father Chanoch Dov Padwa, who died in August 2000. Padwa is an internation ...
, instructing a person claiming to have been sexually abused as a child not to go to the police, as it would violate the prohibition of ''mesirah
Mesirah (or mesira, he, to turn over, italic=yes) is the action in which one Jew reports the conduct of another Jew to a non-rabbinic authority in a manner and under the circumstances forbidden by rabbinic law.
This may not necessarily apply ...
''. Subsequently, a spokesman for Padwa doubted the credibility of the alleged victim, claiming the allegations had already been dismissed by social services as "malicious". The Union denied claims that it did not deal with such allegations seriously, and on the eve of the broadcast of the Dispatches episode, it announced the establishment of a child protection committee.
References
{{Authority control
Jewish community organizations
Jewish religious organizations
Orthodox Judaism in London
Haredi Judaism in the United Kingdom
Judaism and sexuality