It has several thousand affiliated households and is chaired by the Grand Patriarch (Ga'avad), who also holds the title of chief rabbi (Mara D'Ara D'Yisroel מרא דארעא דישראל).

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 originally had two rabbinical courts, one for the perushim and one for the chassidim, over which Rabbi Sonnenfeld was named as the first Av Beis Din, a position he held until his death in 1932.

[10] The anti-Zionist ideological stance of the Edah HaChareidis is explicated in the book Vayoel Moshe, written by its former President and Chief Rabbi, Joel Teitelbaum, which is regarded as the standard, and by which all issues relating to the modern State of Israel are generally determined.

"[16] Earlier in 2008, Rabbi Binyomin Rabinowitz, a Member of the Court, was quoted as saying: "If religious Jews would not co-operate with the Zionists, [the state] would have long been annulled, and the Messiah would have come, and entire delay of the redemption is [attributable to] this matter.

"[17] Followers of the movements that constitute the Edah HaChareidis live mainly in the northern areas of Jerusalem (from Har Nof to Sanhedria, and in Mea Shearim), and in Beit Shemesh.

The Edah HaChareidis includes the following groups: Satmar, Dushinsky, Toldos Aharon, Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok, Spinka, Sanz-Tshokave, groups belonging to the Perushim (such as a more "moderate" wing of Neturei Karta), a faction of the Breslover Hasidim, led by Rabbi Yaakov Meir Shechter, other factions of Breslov, Mishkenois HaRoyim, Khal Chasidei Yerushalayim [he], and several other smaller communities.

This magazine is used to publicize the views of the leadership of the Edah HaChareidis on various issues, as well as articles on Jewish thought, including the weekly Torah portion and biographies of deceased leaders of the Yerushalmi community.

[20] The Edah HaChareidis is known for its high standards in rabbinical supervision of kosher food, and is considered to be the most prominent and reliable hechsher in Israel.

The Kashruth Council of the Edah HaChareidis (וועד הכשרות שע"י בד"ץ העדה החרדית) is the primary supervisory body.