Congregation Adas Israel is an Orthodox synagogue in Passaic, New Jersey, serving the Passaic–Clifton Jewish community from its longtime home at 565 Broadway. Founded in the early 1920s, it grew from a small chevra into a major synagogue-center with educational programs and multiple minyanim.
The congregation traces its origins to the early 1920s, when a group known as Chevra Adath Israel (often rendered Chevra Adas Israel) organized and held services in a rented store on Monroe Street in Passaic. Congregational history describes this as the first synagogue organized west of the Erie Railroad tracks, with early members collecting small donations to establish a building fund.
Chevra Adath Israel was incorporated on December 8, 1925, providing a legal framework for ownership and governance. Using accumulated funds, the congregation purchased a lot at Tulip and Montgomery Streets and erected a one‑story synagogue, where High Holy Day services were first held in 1928. In 1935 younger members, many of them clothing contractors, initiated construction of additional upper stories, completing the expanded building in 1937.
Jewish education has been central to the congregation since the 1930s. In 1938 Adas Israel engaged Rabbi Leon Katz, a Yeshiva University graduate whose primary spoken language was English, as its rabbi. Under his leadership the congregation established the Tifereth Tzvi Hebrew School, described as the first congregational Hebrew school in Passaic.
Before the creation of Tifereth Tzvi, children in the Second Ward commonly attended a private Hebrew school at Madison Street and Myrtle Avenue directed by Hyman Witty. In 1938 that private school was merged into the congregational institution, and Witty joined the faculty, becoming a prominent educator in the local community. In 1943 the congregation founded the Israel Kleinman Memorial Foundation for Higher Hebrew Education and purchased the lot adjacent to the Tulip Street synagogue for a planned educational building, though construction was postponed during the Second World War.
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After the Second World War, Passaic’s Jewish population began shifting from older central neighborhoods toward the city’s Third Ward and Passaic Park. In response, Adas Israel purchased a house at 316 Van Houten Avenue in 1950 to serve as a synagogue and school, while maintaining services at the original Tulip Street location. For a period Rabbi Katz alternated Sabbaths between the two buildings.
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On May 29, 1955, the congregation acquired property at 565–573 Broadway with the aim of constructing a larger synagogue‑center. In March 1957 Adas Israel reached an agreement with Hillel Academy (operated by the Passaic Hebrew Institute), under which the new building would house classrooms for the day school in exchange for a pledge of approximately US$90,000 toward construction costs, bringing the total projected cost to about US$500,000.
Ground was broken for the Broadway synagogue‑center on May 5, 1957. The first Selichot service was held in the not‑yet‑completed sanctuary on September 6, 1958, and the cornerstone was laid on October 12, 1958. Formal dedication ceremonies took place on the weekend of September 18–20, 1959, making Adas Israel the first Passaic congregation to relocate from older Jewish neighborhoods to the Third Ward.
The Broadway complex was designed as a multi‑purpose campus, with a main sanctuary, beit midrash (study hall), classrooms, offices and a social/banquet hall for communal events. On September 25, 1966, the Louis and Fannie Simkin Beth Midrash was dedicated as a chapel and study hall. The congregation acquired the adjacent parking lot in 1969 and installed stained‑glass windows in 1971, which are described in internal histories as completing the synagogue‑center.
The Broadway building has also housed outside educational institutions, including Hillel Academy in the mid‑20th century and, more recently, Yeshiva Keren HaTorah of Passaic–Clifton, whose mesivta division announced plans to locate at 565 Broadway, citing the beit midrash, classrooms, gym and recreation facilities.
With the growth of the Third Ward Jewish population and increased use of the Broadway campus, activity at the Tulip Street synagogue declined. In 1969 the congregation decided to close and sell the Tulip Street property, consolidating its religious and educational functions at 565 Broadway.
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In 1972 Adas Israel joined with three other congregations to create the Inter‑Congregational Hebrew School of the Passaic–Clifton Area. The joint school centralized staff and resources for after‑school Jewish education serving children from multiple synagogues. The Inter‑Congregational Hebrew School operated until June 1987, closing amid the expansion of day‑school and yeshiva education in the region.
Rabbi Leon Katz became rabbi of Adas Israel in 1938 and served until his retirement in 1984. A Yeshiva University alumnus, he is remembered for combining traditional Orthodox observance with English‑language scholarship and engagement with American society. In 1946 the congregation presented him with a life contract as a wedding gift following his marriage to Rhea Herzog.
Katz was active beyond the congregation, including serving as president of the Rabbinic Alumni of Yeshiva University. Under his leadership Adas Israel expanded its facilities, developed its Hebrew school and navigated mid‑century demographic changes in Passaic’s Jewish community. After his retirement he was named rabbi emeritus; a New York Times death notice in 2001 highlighted his longstanding association with the synagogue.
In 1985, Adas Israel appointed Rabbi Dr. Solomon F. Rybak as its spiritual leader. Community directories and synagogue listings describe the congregation during his tenure as an Orthodox synagogue “led by Rabbi Dr. Solomon F. Rybak,” affiliated with the Orthodox Union and associated with the Rabbinical Council of America, with a membership of more than 150 families. Under his leadership the synagogue maintained daily services and expanded youth and adult‑education programming.
Later minyan directories list Rybak as “Rabbi Emeritus,” indicating his continued honorary association with the congregation after new rabbinic leadership was appointed. He is also named in community honor rolls and communal endorsements for local charitable organizations.
More recent congregational descriptions identify Rabbi Pinchas Novaseller (often spelled Novoseller) as the current rabbi of Adas Israel. The congregation’s “Adas Today” page states that Adas Israel is “an orthodox Jewish congregation in Passaic, New Jersey, led by Rabbi Pinchas Novaseller,” and notes that the synagogue is one of Passaic’s oldest and most established, with more than 200 member families. Minyan directories list “Rabbi Pinchas Novoseller” as rabbi of Adas Israel at 565 Broadway, confirming his role as the congregation’s spiritual leader.
A 2019 article in The Jewish Link refers to him as “rav of the Adas Israel Sfard Minyan,” indicating his association with a Sfard‑style minyan based at the synagogue. Novaseller is also named among rabbinic endorsers of Passaic–Clifton communal organizations such as Tomchei Shabbos and Bikur Cholim, reflecting his standing within the broader local rabbinate.
Adas Israel identifies as an Orthodox synagogue with a Modern Orthodox orientation. It follows Ashkenazic halachic practice and maintains multiple daily services for Shacharit, Mincha and Ma’ariv, as well as full Shabbat and festival services. Late‑20th‑century minyan directories list an Ashkenaz Shabbat morning service together with a separate Sfard Shacharit minyan at Adas Israel, indicating that the building has long accommodated two nusachim.
In the early 21st century, communal announcements and media references increasingly use the designation “Adas Israel Sfard” for a Sfard‑style minyan at 565 Broadway. A 2019 article in The Jewish Link refers to Rabbi Pinchas Novoseller explicitly as “rav of the Adas Israel Sfard Minyan,” and youth‑program schedules from Pirchei Agudas Yisroel of Passaic–Clifton advertise Shabbat afternoon children’s groups at “Adas Israel Sfard, 565 Broadway.” These notices, together with the congregation’s description of itself as an Orthodox synagogue “led by Rabbi Pinchas Novaseller,” suggest that under his tenure the Sfard minyan has become the primary, named congregational minyan at Adas Israel.
At the same time, minyan directories and community discussions indicate that an Ashkenaz‑oriented minyan continues to operate alongside the Sfard minyan. Publicly available sources do not consistently employ a formal name for this Ashkenaz minyan, nor do they specify its exact physical location within the building, but the distinction between “Adas Israel Sfard” and other services at the synagogue implies that congregants continue to have access to both Sfard and Ashkenaz options on the Adas Israel campus.
In the early 2020s, municipal documents and public references indicate that Adas Israel undertook significant building work at 565 Broadway. Minutes and agendas from a 2022 meeting of the City of Passaic Zoning Board of Adjustment note submissions by “Adas Israel of Passaic” regarding notices to property owners within 200 feet of 565 Broadway in connection with a zoning application, implying plans for construction or major alterations. Regional business listings and reviews also mention Congregation Adas Israel in the context of activities “during renovation of the building,” suggesting that renovation or modernization was in progress while the synagogue remained operational.
Details of the renovation’s scope and cost are not extensively documented in publicly accessible sources. The congregation’s website and communal listings, however, continue to advertise regular minyanim and facility rentals at 565 Broadway, indicating that the building remains in active use during or following the renovation period.
Adas Israel functions as a community center as well as a synagogue. It offers Shabbat morning youth groups, adult‑education classes and family‑oriented events. Communal programming has included “Mommy & Me” sessions for young children featuring prayer, stories, songs and supervised play, as well as lectures and shiurim open to the wider Passaic–Clifton community. The building serves as a venue for regional learning initiatives such as Kinyan HaMasechta Gemara study groups.
The congregation’s facilities are regularly used for weddings, bar and bat mitzvah celebrations and other simchas, and its social hall and catering facilities are marketed for private events. Adas Israel also hosts programs of local charitable and educational organizations, reinforcing its role as an institutional hub within the Passaic–Clifton Orthodox community.
The history of Congregation Adas Israel is documented in both internal and external sources. The congregation’s own “Our History” page provides a detailed narrative from its beginnings as Chevra Adath Israel through the Tulip Street, Van Houten Avenue and Broadway eras. Special Collections and University Archives at Rutgers University hold the “Congregation Adas Israel (Passaic, N.J.) Records,” which cover mainly 1939–1986 and include constitutions and by‑laws, financial records, newsletters, event programs, advertising journals, Men’s Club files, Free Aid Loan Society records and a charter for B’nai Brith Lodge No. 1609.
Additional context for the congregation’s early environment appears in historical surveys of Passaic’s synagogues, which discuss the broader development of Jewish religious life in the city and mention the founding of Adas Israel in 1922 as a congregation intended for Jews in the Second Ward, with a first building on Tulip Street and a later move to Broadway in 1958. Together, these sources portray the evolution of Adas Israel from a small chevra in a rented store to a large Orthodox synagogue‑center that remains a prominent institution in the Passaic–Clifton Jewish community.
