Rabbi Sheldon Moss

On his 27th birthday, June 4 1977, Rabbi Moss was ordained by the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion. He decided to postpone earning his Ph.D. in Psychology (2006) to pioneer a new Jewish community in Poway. From 1997-1988 he led the 39 founding families of the Bernardo Jewish Community into creating Temple Adat Shalom, a 420 family synagogue campus in Poway, California.

In 1978 Rabbi Moss convened the North County of San Diego’s Interfaith Council and Crisis Center and led five congregations to develop the model social service agency now supported by over four hundred religious congregations in Escondido California.

In 1989, Rabbi Moss was selected by President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union to found the Soviet American Forum for Life with Human Rights. Since then he has directed the five international human rights conferences held during Perestroika, in Moscow (2), Washington D.C., New York and in San Diego. Rabbi Moss has also convened top Soviet and American leaders and then reported their breakthrough agreements at the United Nations.