From their origins in the 1840s Christadelphians held the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, as part of the "promises to Abraham", as a fundamental tenet of the church's belief.
[3][4] The origin of Elpis Lodge can be traced to the earlier work of Alan Overton, a Christadelphian shopkeeper from Rugby.
[7] Overton became involved with the new non-denominational "Movement for the Care of Children from Germany", and set up The Rugby (Christadelphian) Refugee Committee, trying to find homes and raise the £50 eventual repatriation guarantee demanded by the British government.
Overton, and other members of Rugby and other Christadelphian churches would meet the largely Quaker organised Kindertransport boat trains in London and drive the children to homes they had found.
Dr. Abraham Cohen dedicated Elpis Lodge at an opening ceremony on 21 April 1940, an appropriate date, as he pointed out, because this was the Eve of Passover, the Festival of Freedom.
Hirsch had formerly been headmaster of the Jewish Philanthropie-Schule in Frankfurt, and were described in The Christadelphian magazine as "people of culture and learning whose hearts will be in the work".