Born in Bavaria in 1819, Moses Schloss settled first in Albany, New York, after immigrating at the age of seventeen. There he established a lucrative dry goods business and became active in freemasonry, achieving the rank of Worshipful Master of the Washington Lodge. He became captain in the local militia, the Washington Rifles, which commanded in action during the Anti-Rent War, a tenants’ revolt in Upstate New York in the early 1840s.

His time in Albany also saw his marriage to Amelia Schloss. The couple were active in the small Jewish community there, composed mostly of Jews from Bavaria and Posen, who began arriving in the city in the 1830s. Schloss was among the founders of Congregation Beth El in 1838 and served as president in the 1840s and in that role was instrumental in bringing Isaac Mayer Wise, newly arrived from Bohemia, to serve as rabbi. Wise, who would go on to become one of the leading Jewish religious figures in the United States in the nineteenth century, introduced numerous reforms during his four-year tenure at Beth El, which ended up dividing the congregation—although Schloss remained ever supportive. In his Reminiscences, Wise remembered Schloss as welcoming and insightful, calling him the “Aristotle of Albany Jewry.”

In 1849, Schloss left Albany for Saint Louis, before joining his brothers Benjamin, Frederick, and Philip in California where they had started a dry goods business. In 1857, Moses and Philip came to New York City, where they started Schloss Brothers, a successful umbrella company.

In New York, Schloss was active with the Reform Temple Emanu-El, serving as vice president of the congregation. He played an important role in helping Rabbi Samuel Adler establish a theological seminary there in 1865. Schloss was a patron of numerous charities including the Montefiore Home for Aged and Infirm Israelites, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, and Mount Sinai Hospital.