Rabbi Givental

Rabbi Moshe was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. His family moved to the United States when he was nine years old, settling in Metro Detroit, Michigan. He began his university studies in Engineering, but soon realized that he wanted to work with people more directly, and therefore switched to psychology. Rabbi Moshe went on to earn an M.A. in Clinical psychology and worked with people struggling with drug addiction, severe mental health challenges, and homelessness in Chicago. At the same time, he found himself connecting with Judaism for the first time in his life, falling in love with our tradition and spending much of his free time learning with Rabbis across denominations. This led Rabbi Moshe to take a 2-year Sabbatical to study at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem, from where he applied and was accepted to the non-denominational Hebrew College Rabbinical School.

While in Rabbinical School, Rabbi Moshe taught Hebrew School at several synagogues, facilitated interfaith dialogue, and provided psycho-spiritual support to climate justice activists. He was a Rabbinic Intern for two years at Temple Tifereth Israel in Winthrop, MA. Concurrently, he was a Rabbinic and Chaplaincy Intern at Boston’s Jewish Housing for the Elderly. After ordination he served as Interim Rabbi at Temple Beth Torah in Holliston, MA where he helped the Board create a plan for transition, began rebuilding their Adult Education program, planned Family Education with the Director of the Hebrew School and co-created an interfaith dialogue group with other clergy from across the city and their congregants.

After this role, Rabbi Moshe returned to Michigan, to be closer to his parents, brother, and toddler-aged nieces. He taught Adult Education at synagogues across Metro-Detroit, served as a Spiritual Guide at a local prison, and facilitated grief and empowerment workshops for environmental and climate justice activists. He also served as Program Director and Liaison to Indigenous Communities at Climate Change and Consciousness, a global network of communities creating regenerative responses to climate change. Yearning to return to serve as a congregational Rabbi, to learn about Australia’s work with Aboriginal communities and its response to climate change, Rabbi Moshe applied to and was appointed as Assistant Rabbi and Director of Meah Hebrew and Religion School at NSTE in June of 2022.

Rabbi Moshe's study and career has evolved in expanding circles, from psychology - our relationship with ourselves and each other, through Judasim - our relationship with the Jewish community, history, and God, to environmental work - our relationship with all peoples and our broader kinship with the Earth. In many ways, he is a student of the esteemed Abraham Joshua Heschel z"l, sharing his passion for nurturing wonder and awe, meaningful and transformative prayer, and audacious action.