Charedi wins battle to keep loft

A diamond wholesaler has avoided a hefty fine after facing a rare criminal prosecution following a lengthy planning dispute with a council.

David Kahn, 59, has been at loggerheads with Haringey Council for six years over alterations made to a home he owns in Tottenham, north London.

His son, Mordechai, lives at the house with his wife and four children.

The council launched criminal proceedings after the family failed to downscale a loft extension, built in contravention of planning permission.

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France honours wartime resistance fighter, 92

An Orthodox woman living in Manchester has been awarded one of France’s highest honours for her wartime activities on behalf of the French resistance.

Rose Warfman, 92, a retired nurse and social worker, has become an officer of the Legion of Honour, having previously been made a knight of the order 50 years ago.

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Barnet school forced to close

A strictly Orthodox Golders Green school will have to close after Barnet Council rejected a final retrospective appeal for planning permission last Wednesday.

Beis Medrash Elyon, educating 45 boys in Golders Green Road, has operated without planning permission for five years.

Councillor Dean Cohen proposed that the school be granted consent “on the grounds that it has been in place for some time and its current use has demonstrated significant benefit to the local community”. Councillors Eva Greenspan, Melvin Cohen and Jack Cohen highlighted its educational merits.

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Recession splits the Clubhouse

A pioneering Orthodox organisation that helps young people and families in trouble is to be broken up into separate charities as a consequence of the economic climate.

Harris Rosenberg, until recently head of grants and commissioning at the Northwest Clubhouse in London, said that rather continuing as an umbrella body, “a better way to protect our services to those in need of support in our community was to split it”.

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Child abuse crackdown

The Brooklyn District Attorney is joining with Jewish charities to crack down on child abuse in the ultra-Orthodox community.

DA Charles Hynes has set up Project Kol Tzedek — “Voice of Justice” — to encourage young victims of abuse to come forward.

“Because of the insular nature of Orthodox Jewish communities, many victims are reluctant to report crimes to secular authorities. This programme will go a long way to address those impediments,” said Mr Hynes.

A victims hotline will be set up, manned by social workers.

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Dayan attacks plan to twin shuls with mosques

A Board of Deputies plan for synagogues to twin with mosques in order to improve Muslim-Jewish relations has been attacked by a senior Orthodox rabbi as contrary to Jewish law.

Dayan Yisroel Lichtenstein, head of the Federation of Beth Din, wrote to communities under its aegis last Friday to say they should not take part “on religious grounds”.

The initiative was among a number discussed by Jewish interfaith organisations at a special meeting at the Board last week to discuss Jewish-Muslim relations.

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Rabbis warn against 'unsuitable' teacher training on child abuse

Strictly Orthodox rabbis have warned schools to beware of unsuitable teacher training material on child abuse.

A letter from the rabbinical council of the London-based Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, alerted Charedi school and kindergarten heads to new government regulations said to be “a difficult and bitter decree against Torah education”.

It also warned of a “danger” posed to teachers by NVQ training material and said teachers should avoid visiting “institutions which are not Charedi” without rabbinical permission.

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