זאליס יטב לב אין לאנדאן אין געריכט

The High Court in London this week began hearing an action brought by a North London rabbi to recover more than £320,000 he claims is owed to him by a strictly Orthodox charity.

Rabbi Moshe Meisels argues that the money he handed to Yetev Lev Jerusalem, a Hackney-based charity, represented a loan rather than a gift.

While photographers thronged the court entrance in the Strand for the McCartney-Mills divorce case, a more unusual spectacle awaited visitors to Court Number 12, where the benches were occupied by London Chasidim.

The case was expected to last five days, with video evidence from Israel.

In December 2004, Rabbi Meisels made an arrangement — recorded in a hand-written document — with one of the trustees, Menachem Lichtman. As a result, £322,800 was transferred by the rabbi to Yetev Lev and then to the charity's bank account in Jerusalem.

Now Rabbi Meisels is suing Mr Lichtman and the charity's two trustees at the time, Berish Berger and Shlomo Weiss, for the return of the money.

According to its published accounts, Yetev Lev attracted income of £9.4 million in the year ending March 2005. Its accounts two years earlier list Satmar Chasidic institutions in Israel as its main beneficiaries.

But Rabbi Meisels's QC, Jonathan Crystal, told the court on Monday that last year the charity was in debt by almost £750,000. ''What is going on?'' he asked.

A US Beth Din had given Rabbi Meisels leave to pursue his case through the civil courts, Mr Crystal explained