'Het Joodsche Weekblad' of May 1941 featured an article on the occasion of the 70th birthday of D.M. Sluys. He was secretary of the Dutch Jewish Main Synagogue (NIHS) in Amsterdam and of the Dutch-Jewish Church association (NIK). In the article, he was called the 'highest administrative servant of the Jewry in the Netherlands'. David Mozes Sluys was married. The couple had three children and three grandchildren. One of his children worked for him as his personal secretary.
According to the article, David Sluys was 'the big man in the background, preparing proposals, passing recommendations and reports to the church board and council and also to the highest management board of the Church Community on the most diverse occasions, the man who does the negotiating for community and church association and the one who actually runs it on a daily basis.'
David Sluys qualified at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Amsterdam with the thesis 'De Maccabbaeorum libris I et II Questiones'. He attained the degree of magied at the Seminary, but he did not feel attracted to spiritual leadership. In 1906, he became secretary of the Jewish community and in 1912 secretary of the church association. Furthermore, he also published a lot of work on the history of Jews in Amsterdam.
As secretary, David Sluys wielded a lot of power. He was sometimes called 'the dictator of the Meyerplein'. From the article in Het Joodsche Weekblad: ''It happened that Dr Sluys had to visit a small place because there were justified complaints about the behaviour of the Parnas who conducted himself in a dictatorial way; once Dr. Sluys had checked through the rules, he was able to simply dismiss the man. As a result, peace returned to the community and everyone was satisfied except for one disposed church leader. But this was better than the other way round.'
David Mozes Sluys was a Knight in the Order of Oranje Nassau. He was also a member of the Jewish Council.
Het Joodsche Weekblad, 23 May 1941, 5;
M.H. Gans, Memorboek. Platenatlas van het leven der joden in Nederland van de middeleeuwen tot 1940 (6e bijgewerkte druk; Baarn 1988) 745
Biography