Moritz Winter

Rabbi Winter born in Magdeburg, Germany, was descended from "a distinguished rabbinic family, which traces its roots to the renowned sixteenth century Rabbi Mordechai Jaffe, better known as the 'Levush.' Between 1905-1908 he studied in the Universities of Berlin and Heidelberg ( Semitic philologie, roman history) and graduates in 1908 in Heidelberg. He studied in the Hochschule fuer die Wischenschaft des Judentums between 1905-1913. He became a rabbi in 1913 but already in 1912 he served as rabby in Leipzig.In World war I served as Chaplain. Between 1913-1921 served as rabby in Koenigsberg. From 1922 he served as rabby and director of religious work in the district of Friedenau-Steglitz.i

When the Nazis burned Winter's synagogue, he decided to escape Germany with his wife Erna and son Walter. They fled in April 1939 and soon arrived in Shaghai, China. The next six months he organized congregations and visited hospitals and six refugee camps where he gave spiritual courage to some 17,000 refugees from Germany and Austria.

When Winter's visa was obtained in Shanghai he sailed with his family to San Francisco, arriving on October 30, 1939. In San Francisco, Rabbi Winter studied Jewish literature and English. He came to Santa Cruz to deliver a talk at the Jewish Community Center and soon thereafter was requested to become its resident rabbi. The Board of Rabbis of Northern California paid most of his meager salary.

Rabbi Winter's duties at the Jewish Community Center included conducting regular worship services, teaching Sunday school, giving lectures, and holding discussions on the Bible every Saturday morning.

Rabbi Winter remarked about America in an address to the East Side Methodist Church of Santa Cruz in 1941: