Born in Kuvno, Lithuania, Moses was fourteen years old when he, along with his father Ely Bilsky, immigrated to Canada in 1845. Eventually his father decided to move to Palestine to spend his remaining days, leaving his son in the care of relatives living in Brooklyn, New New York
Life & Their first moved to Montreal, before settling in Kemptville, Ontario. In either 1856 or 1857, Moses decided to move back to Canada, and was attracted to the city of Ottawa. He would become the first Jewish settler in the city.
Eventually, he returned to Ottawa with his family and opened a pawnshop in 1877.
Both stores, located on Rideau Street, were successful. When Moses retired from the business in 1915, his business became known as Bilsky Limited.
As Ottawa transformed from Bytown to the capital of Canada, Moses helped establish the Jewish community in the city. He established the first place of worship within his own residence.
Once the Adath Jeshurun congregation outgrew his home in 1895, he helped found the first synagogue next to his shop on Murray Street, and later a more extravagant synagogue on King Edward Avenue in 1902.
Not only was his home used as a place of worship for a period of time, but it was also used to refuge recently arrived Jewish immigrants. He travel to New York in order to acquire a Torah for his congregation, and would help transform the deceased to the closet Jewish community. They would eventually have eleven more children.
Moses would spend most of the rest of his life in Ottawa, except for a period when he and his family lived in Mattawa (1882 to 1885) and Montreal (1885 to 1891).
She served as head of the Canadian branch of WIZO and was recognized for her services for war veterans when she was awarded with the Order of the British Empire.
