Adat Beyt Mosheh Community

Adat Beyt Mosheh Community
Near Elwood, New Jersey, 2002

Four of the five homes that are part of a black Jewish community founded by Rabbi Sar Abel Respes. Clockwise from upper right are the homes of some of his children and grandchildren-Gabrielie, Anita (died February 2002), and Elkanah. In the upper left is the home of Manuel.
Respes Family in Adat Beyt Mosheh
Near Elwood, New Jersey, 2002

Members of the Respes family inside the temple Adat Beyt Mosheh. In the top row are three of Abel Respes’ sons: Mosheh (left), Manuel, and Eliyahu. Abel and Viola Respes had twenty-one children: Anita, Diane, Alender, Gabrielle, Abel, Judy, Joel, Leah, Elkanah, Tirzah, Mosheh, Gamaiel, Zayith, Manuel, Keturah, Michal, Ben Yamin, Miriam, Eliyahu, Hadassah, and Gila.
Adat Beyt Mosheh
Near Elwood, New Jersey, 2002

The home of Rabbi Abel Respes and his wife, Viola, which they built as the center of the Adat Beyt Mosheh community. The current residents are his children Diane, Mosheh, and Eliyahu.
Adat Beyt Mosheh Congregation
Near Elwood, New Jersey, 2002

Adat Beyt Mosheh is the spiritual and social center of this community of Jews of color. In a brochure printed in 1962 its founder, Sar Abel Respes, calls Adat Beyt Mosheh “America’s Colored Hebrew Community.” The congregation formed in Philadelphia in 1951 and moved to southern New Jersey in 1962. The foreword to the 1962 brochure describes the community: “The homes are the most modern construction, totally electric, situated in an ideal rural area just off the White Horse Pike, bounded on all sides by an abundance of beautiful green trees and lawns, within a healthful area where sunshine and fresh air are plentiful, the water unpolluted, and quiescence is constantly prevalent. The absence of industrial plants and factories are a safeguard against air-pollution.”