Wentworth Arthur Matthew

Wentworth Arthur Matthew (June 23, 1892 – December 1973), a West Indian immigrant to New York City, was the founder in 1919 of the Commandment Keepers of the Living God, a Black Hebrew congregation. It was influenced by the pan-Africanism and black nationalism of Marcus Garvey from Jamaica. Matthew developed his congregation along Jewish lines of observance and the theory that they were returning to Judaism as the true Hebrews. He incorporated in 1930 and moved the congregation to Brooklyn. There he founded the Israelite Rabbinical Academy, teaching and ordaining African-American rabbis. His theory of Black Hebrews was generally not accepted in that period by European-American Jews of the Orthodox and Conservative communities.

According to Matthew, he was born in Lagos, Nigeria. Other sources, including his own records, say he was born in St. Kitts, British West Indies. He and his family became naturalized United States citizens.

Wentworth Arthur Matthew was born in 1892 on Saint Kitts, British West Indies. He married his wife Florence (August 29, 1893—July 1980), who was also from the British West Indies. They had at least four children together, recorded as follows in their 1927 naturalization records in the United States:

In later years, Matthew sometimes said that he came from Lagos, Nigeria. But, in his 1927 petition for naturalization, Matthew lists his place of birth as Spooner's Village, British West Indies. When he registered in 1942 with the US Selective Service during World War II, he listed his place of birth as St. Christopher, British West Indies.

Matthew immigrated to New York City and arranged for his family to join him. In 1919, he founded the Commandment Keepers Congregation of the Living God in Harlem, a Black Hebrew movement. He was strongly influenced by the white Jews he had met. When he learned about the Beta Israel of Ethiopia, he began to identify with them. Matthew trained rabbis, who set up synagogues throughout the United States and the Caribbean. When interviewed, many of the older members of this community recall memories of their parents observing Jewish dietary laws, such as abstaining from pork or salting their meat.

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