About Moshe Kurtz

Rabbi Moshe Kurtz lectures on a range of contemporary issues, including political correctness, nationalism, and gender identity, through the halachic lens. His writings have appeared in forums such as The Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society (“RJJ Journal”), Panim Journal, Tradition, The Lehrhaus, and Torah Musings. He recently published his first sefer, Challenging Assumptions (Mosaica Press, 2023).

Rabbi Kurtz is also passionate about bringing the beauty of Brisker lomdus to a broad, English-reading audience. He has adapted selections from the monumental work, Sefer Chavatzeles Hasharon, by Rabbi Mordechai Carlebach, into succinct and compelling halachic discourses on the weekly Torah portion.

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Rabbi Kurtz learned at Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway, NY, and Yeshivat Sha’alvim in Eretz Yisrael. He holds a BA in psychology from Yeshiva College, where he received the Steven Gladstein Memorial Award for Service to the Jewish People, and an MS from the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration. Rabbi Kurtz earned his semichah from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), where he studied under the direct tutelage of one of the preeminent authorities in Jewish medical ethics, Rabbi Dr. Moshe D. Tendler, zt”l.

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Rabbi Kurtz previously served at the Young Israel of Plainview (YIP) on Long Island, NY. As of 2020, he began his tenure as the assistant rabbi of Congregation Agudath Sholom (CAS) in Stamford, CT, where he lives with his wife, Marisa, and their beloved daughter, Talya.