Dayan Moshe Aharon Kurtstag never expected to leave his Jerusalem beis medrash for far-off Johannesburg of the 1960s. Now back in Eretz Yisrael 50 years later, he’s left behind a thriving Torah kehillah and a strong, centralized beis din
Photos: Pinchas Emanuel
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f you were to observe Rav Moshe Aharon Kurtstag walking down a Jerusalem street, you’d see a tall, imposing Torah scholar, a graduate of Yeshivas Chevron surrounded by children and grandchildren true to his values, many of them learning in Chevron too. You might find it hard to fathom that this Israeli-born-and-educated man spent half a century of his life in far-off South Africa, taking a leading role in a community he found utterly foreign. But to the Jews of South Africa, Dayan Kurtstag was clearly a Heaven-sent emissary who took a leadership role at a critical juncture for the community.
Now he’s back where it all started, looking back on a life’s journey he never envisioned, never planned, and wasn’t even sure he wanted. But in hindsight, it all makes sense. “Hashem plucked me out of Bnei Brak and put me where I needed to be,“ he says.
Found in Chevron
It’s a long way from Poland to Johannesburg. As Dayan Kurtstag traces the family history, a colorful multitude of faces, figures, and passionate ideals take their turns in the spotlight, propelling him toward a calling he could never have imagined.
Moshe Aharon Kurtstag was born in Tel Aviv to parents who’d escaped Poland shortly before the Holocaust. His father, Yehoshua Gershon, a passionate religious Zionist, made his way to Palestine first. Once there, he obtained immigration papers for Tova Neiman, a student of Sarah Schenirer who resisted her family’s doubts and fears and joined him in the Holy Land, where they married.
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