Rabbi Jacob Hurwitz was born on May 5, 1912 in Baltimore, Maryland. Hurwitz received his B.A. at Yeshiva University, his rabbinical ordination and D.D. at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and his M.A. at Columbia University. Before coming to Broome County, he served communities in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Flint, Michigan. Hurwitz then served as rabbi of Temple Israel in Vestal, Broome County, New York from 1948 to 1982, following which he was rabbi emeritus there until his death in 2003. He also served as the Jewish chaplain at the Binghamton Psychiatric Center and Broome Developmental Center, and as president of the Binghamton Ministerial Association, the Broome County Mental Health Association, the Broome County Committee on Alcoholism, the Binghamton Housing Authority, and the Friends of the Binghamton University Libraries. Rabbi Hurwitz died on June 3, 2003, and later that year, a book of his sermons, "Twenty-Six Sermons: 1956 to 1981," appeared under the imprint of Keshet Press.