The Charedi Council of Jerusalem (, haEdah haCharedit, Ashkenazi pronunciation: ha-Aideh Charaidis or ha-Eido ha-Chareidis; "Congregation of God-Fearers") is a large Haredi Jewish communal organization based in Jerusalem, with several thousands affiliated households. It is led by an independent rabbinical court, chaired by the Gaon Convenor, acronymed Ga'avad, and operated by the Rabbi Convenor, Ra'avad. The Council provides facilities such as dietary laws supervision, ritual baths, a Sabbath enclosure, and welfare services. The Council was founded in 1921 by devout Ashkenazi residents of Jerusalem, especially of the Old Yishuv, who refused to be affiliated in any way with the new Zionist institutions. Inspired by militant anti-Zionist ideology, it refuses to receive any state funding from the Israeli authorities, or to endorse voting in the elections, relying on donations from fellow anti-Zionist Haredi Jews abroad and its own income. Its members often engage in demonstrations against Sabbath desecration, autopsies, or archaeological excavations of human remains, which they regard as sins, and are noted for their poverty and extreme religious strictness. The Council also sponsors a very small Sephardi Haredi Council. History The Edah HaChareidis was founded by Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld and Rabbi Yitzchok Yerucham Diskin (son of Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin) in 1921, prior to the establishment of the Chief Rabbinate by the Zionist movement under British auspices, which saw Rabbi Sonnenfeld named as the first Av Beis Din, a position he held until his death in 1932. His tenure saw the Ottoman Empire's control over the Land of Israel vanish, to be replaced with the British control of the region under the British Mandate of Palestine after World War I. The Edah HaChareidis, which was – and still is – strongly anti-Zionist, resisted these moves, and opposed the new British-created Zionist Chief Rabbinate. Rabbi Sonnenfeld was succeeded by Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, who was succeeded by Rabbi Zelig Reuven Bengis, who was succeeded by the Satmar Rebbe, Grand Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum. Rabbi Teitelbaum emigrated to the United States, but retained his position as chief of the OCJ. Teitelbaum's nephew, the late Grand Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum of Satmar, was given the title of President upon Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum's death Meanwhile, in 1945, the Edah parted ways with Agudat Yisrael. The lay leader of the body for many years was Gershon Stemmer, until his death in early 2007. Anti-Zionist ideology The anti-Zionist stance of the Edah HaChareidis is ideologically derived from