משה מושקוביץ Moshe Moskowitz was the first mayor of Efrat.  He was a man of education, and was passionate about Zionism and building the settlements.

 Born in 1925 in Czechoslovakia, Moshe immigrated to Israel as a child. He was a graduate of the Mikve Yisrael Agricultural School, and was one of   the founders of Kibbutz Mesuot Yitzhak in 1945.

 In the 1950s, Moshe  served as head of the Shafir Regional Council, and was one of the founders of the Tzomet Institute, which deals with   technological-halakhic developments, and the Menorah Association, which deals with the rescue of synagogues and Torah scrolls in the Diaspora.   Throughout this time Moshe took part in a variety of social, educational, and Zionist activities.

 After the Six Day War, he established the Alon Shvut community and the Har Etzion hesder yeshiva.

 Moshe later established the settlement of Efrat and served as mayor for 5 years. He headed the College of Law Association, and founded the Timra   Association, which deals with educational solutions for detached youth.

 In 2008 he won the Dr. Irving and Cherna Moskowitz Award for over sixty years of involvement, commitment, and leadership in the fields of   education, society, and settlement; on his personal role in the establishment of localities and institutions of education and Torah learning   throughout the country: on the vision of re-settlement in Gush Etzion after the Six Day War, and on the fulfillment of the vision in founding the   settlements of the Gush, Yeshivat Har Etzion, and the city of Efrat.

Moshe passed away in 2021.