Rabbi Cohen’s Writings

Dear Friends, Raina and I have been doing some traveling. Earlier this week our ship docked in St. Kitts. We could have stayed onboard and enjoyed the quiet of the port day once most other passengers had gone ashore. We could have found a beach, soaked up the [...]

Dear Friends, I recently came across a Hasidic story that feels especially appropriate as we begin 2026. A man came to his rabbi in great distress. “Rabbi,” he said, “my life feels scattered. I keep resolving to change, to be better, to live with more intention, but year [...]

Dear Friends, This week’s Torah portion, Vayigash, marks the moment when Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers. It is a profound turning point in the moral development of one of the Torah’s most complicated and often overlooked figures: Judah. Judah was hardly a paradigm of moral courage [...]

Dear Friends, One of the quiet truths of Hanukkah is that its beauty comes from fragility. A candle is not powerful because it lasts forever but because it doesn’t. We light it anyway and enjoy it for however long we can. This year, Raina and I opened a box [...]