Kurinsky

Pinchos Kurinsky, born in the middle of World War II, is from a family of proudly Jewish social activists. In the 1960s he left a Ph.D. program in American and English literature at NYU to teach English in inner city schools. After several years he left teaching for a brief stint as a spiritual seeker. In the early 1970s he settled into the life of a Chabad Chassid, and co-founded a small tribe. After returning to graduate school for a master’s degree in social work, he spent about 35 years working as a licensed clinical social worker running programs targeting older isolated and homeless Jews and other under-served people. Simultaneously he conducted a private counseling practice. He has returned to poetry, a love of his youth. He is the recipient of the First Prize in the 2016 Dora and Alexander Raynes Poetry Competition.