Hitchin Yeshiva
Yeshivas Toras Chessed is a Jewish yeshiva or rabbinical school for Torah study, the study of Talmud, Rabbinic literature and Responsa. It is based in Wellbury House, Great Offley, near Hitchin in Hertfordshire.[1] Previously Wellbury House had been a private school for Catholic boys aged 7 to 13.
Founded in about 1989, the yeshiva follows the Ashkenazi Orthodox ritual and is affiliated to the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations. The yeshiva has about 200 students on a 6-acre (24,000 m2) site.
Following an unsatisfactory fire safety inspection in April 2002, that October the Charity Commission wrote to the Torath Chesed Yeshiva Trust, which runs the yeshiva, telling them not to re-open the school until vital building and safety improvement work had completed. Head of Investigations, David Rich, who visited the school, said,
"To my layman's eyes it seemed like a death trap. Conditions were shocking. We saw very little in the way of fire safety equipment or fire safety instruction. We did see a broken glass panel in a door, cracked floor tiles just waiting for someone to trip on them, bare wires and emergency lights dangling precariously from the ceiling. I'm no expert but I wouldn't want to send my own kids there."[2]
Safety hazards included the lack of fire escapes, insufficient fire-fighting equipment, the lack of emergency lighting and fire signage, the absence of staff training and any emergency plan.[2]
When the leader Rabbi A.SH. Stern was ill the yeshiva relocated to London and a new Yeshiva named Or Torah was opened in Hitchin by his brother Y.M.Stern who claimed that he is a shared partner in the leadership.
When Rabbi A.SH.Stern died, there was a Din Torah on the leadership of the yeshiva (Toras Chesed) between Chaim Babad & The children of A.SH.Stern, and the leadership was granted to Chaim Babad. Then there was another Din Torah on the control of the land in Hitchin between Chaim Babad, Y.M.Stern & The children of A.SH.Stern. Y.M.Stern claimed that he and B.Weisman were partners with Rabbi A.SH.Stern, so now that A.SH.Stern left (as he relocated to London) they are the only trustees on Toras Chesed & the properties. The Din Torah didn't accept Y.M.Stern's version and declared A.SH.Stern as the only trustee but as a compromise the Beth Din granted 16.66% (a sixth) of the land value to Y.M.Stern and 13.88% to A.SH.Stern's children so Chaim Babad was left with 69.44%.