WESTPORT – Danny Moss will join the clergy of Temple Israel of Westport as assistant rabbi, it was announced recently by the synagogue’s president, Gary Schanzer.

Moss, who received his ordination in May from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, will assume his new post in July. He replaces as assistant rabbi, Rabbi P.J. Schwartz, who is leaving the Reform congregation for a position as rabbi educator at Congregation Shir Hadash in Los Gatos, California.

A native of Chicago, Moss is a graduate of Oberlin College with degrees in Jewish Studies and Comparative Religion. Prior to joining Temple Israel, he served as a student rabbi at Brooklyn Heights Synagogue in New York. He previously served for several years as an educator and youth director at Temple Micah in Washington, D.C., and completed internships at Fairmount Temple in Cleveland and Temple Israel in Boston.

Moss studied in Israel for two years and has served as a tour guide for teens travelling through Israel and Europe. During the course of his rabbinical studies, he also administered the tefilah curriculum at Congregation Emanu-El in New York and served as a critical care chaplain at a Chicago hospital.

A 15-summer alumnus of Union for Reform Judaism Camp OSRUI in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, Moss has also studied cantorial arts and plays several musical instruments.