L ifestyle /C ulture
Food Continued from Page 20
BUBBIE MOLLIE’S PUMPKIN
CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS
Makes about 20
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup vegetable or canola
oil 1 15-ounce can pumpkin
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat your oven to 350 F
and spray a muffin pan with
nonstick spray or line it with
cupcake liners. Set it aside.

Whisk together the flour,
baking powder, baking soda,
salt and cinnamon in a medium
bowl until fully incorporated.

Set aside.

Pumpkin chocolate chip muffin, above; Erica Pais, right
Muffin photo by Erica Pais; portrait by Michael Norry
Whisk together the eggs
and sugar in a large mixing
bowl until fully incorpo-
rated. Add the oil and canned
pumpkin, then whisk until
fully incorporated.

Pour the dry mixture into
the pumpkin mixture and mix
with a wooden spoon until just
combined; be careful not to
overmix. Add the chocolate
chips and mix again until
evenly distributed. Pour the
batter into the prepared muffin
pan. Bake 15-18 minutes. To
check if they are done, lightly
press on the top of a muffin
with your index finger; if the
muffin resists the pressure and
does not indent, the muffins
are done. l
Name: GIANT
Width: 9.25 in
Depth: 5.5 in
Color: Black plus one
Comment: Jewish Exponent
Happy Purim
Stop by a GIANT near you
and let the celebration begin!
22 FEBRUARY 18, 2021
JEWISH EXPONENT
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



L ifestyle /C ulture
Rabbi Abel Respes Spent Lifetime Urging Jews
of Color to Discover Their Roots
H I STORY
I wish more people knew just how wise he
was. SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
THE LATE RABBI Abel
Respes, the subject of a Black
History Month webinar this
week, always knew his family
was different.

Born in 1919 to a poor Black
family in North Philadelphia,
he grew up with a vague
understanding of his religious
background. His mother
told him that their Bible was
written in a different language,
and his grandmother observed
Jewish customs and told him
that their people worshipped in
secret in the past.

“I remembered my father,
who read the Bible but never
went to church, telling me
when I was 13 — and should
have been bar mitzvahed —
‘We’re different from other
Negroes. We are Jews,’” he told
The New York Times in 1978.

He dropped out of high
school at 16 and worked odd
jobs to help support his family.

At 28, a series of mystical
experiences, including dreams,
motivated him to research his
Jewish roots. His son, Rabbi
Gamliel Respes, said he fasted
for seven days and seven nights
and began teaching himself
Hebrew, reading texts like the
chumash and the tanakh.

Researching his Spanish last
name led him to the stories
of the Marranos, or Jews who
practiced in secret during the
Spanish Inquisition. His studies
indicated he was descended
from Marranos, also known as
crypto-Jews, who fled persecu-
tion and may have resettled in
North and West Africa.

Respes dedicated himself to
intensive study, became a rabbi
and founded Adat Beyt Moshe,
a largely African American
congregation that began in
North Philadelphia and later
moved to Elwood, New Jersey.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM YASMINAH RESPES
Rabbi Abel Respes
“He felt that if this was a
possibility for his family as a
person of color in the United
States, then maybe there were
other families who sort of lost
their way and were crypto-
Jews because of circumstances
such as the slave trade,” Rabbi
Gamliel Respes said.

Adat Beyt Moshe congregants
included a combination of crypto-
Jewish families, converts to
Judaism and other Jewish people
of color. It operated communally,
with families pooling resources
to buy land and build homes and
a synagogue.

Despite the fact that a panel
of rabbis found Respes’ knowl-
edge of Judaism to be superior
to that of graduates of Yeshiva
University, he and his commu-
nity often faced scrutiny from
white Ashkenazi rabbinic author-
ities who required them to prove
Europe but in Africa led them
to come and learn from him,”
Rabbi Gamliel Respes said.

He thinks the most signifi-
cant part of his father’s legacy
was the reach of his commu-
nity and education work. His
cousins have traveled across
the country and encountered
people along the way who
recognize Rabbi Abel Respes’
name because he touched their
lives in some way.

His granddaughter, Yasminah
Respes, said her grandfather’s
dedication to finding acceptance
in the Jewish community helped
inspire her to become a Jewish
educator and make an Orthodox
conversion in Israel.

“I wish more people knew just
how wise he was,” she said. “I
Courtesy of Rabbi Gamliel Respes mean, the fact that he could teach
himself Hebrew is an amazing
their Jewishness, Rabbi Gamliel accomplishment,
especially Respes said. During an attempt to before the internet. And the fact
immigrate to Israel, Abel Respes,
who died in 1986, underwent a
formal conversion because he
Name: WWDB AM 860
could not produce proof of his
Width: 3.625 in
heritage. Depth: 3.62 in
He also worked to educate
Color: Black
the broader Jewish commu-
nity about Jews of color and
their history, advocating for
Jews to focus on their identity
as an indigenous people from
the Middle East as the Torah
described them, not divided
along contemporary American
racial categories.

“My dad was on the
radio explaining this, which
resonated with some people of
color and they came to learn
more. So the fact that my father
was educating them and letting
them know that there were Jews
who were exiled not just in
JEWISH EXPONENT
that he was able to influence
so many members of his own
family and extended community
members, that’s a big deal.”
The Jewish Federation of
Greater Philadelphia’s Jewish
Community Relations Council
will hold a webinar discussion
with Yasminah Respes, Rabbi
Gamliel Respes and historian
Craig Stutman about Rabbi Abel
Respes’ life in partnership with
the African American Museum in
Philadelphia, the American Jewish
Committee, the Anti-Defamation
League, ADL’s Black-Jewish
Alliance and the Jewish
Community Relations Council of
Southern New Jersey on Feb. 23
in honor of Black History Month.

Viewers can register for
the 7 p.m. Zoom event at
bit.ly/2LoI2Jp. l
spanzer@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
FEBRUARY 18, 2021
23