Rabbi Cohen’s Writings

Dear Friends, Silly as it may sound, I’ve always loved the book Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. In it, author Robert Fulghum, who happens to also be a minister, boils down the basic elements of what it means to be a mensch (my word, not [...]

Dear Friends, I am away on vacation, but wanted to share a few thoughts before Shabbat arrives. When I was growing up, we spent every July 4th at my grandparents’ lake house in Shrub Oak, New York to celebrate my Grandpa Alex’s birthday. He LOVED sharing a birthday with his [...]

Dear Friends, Last week I shared the story of being verbally accosted on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. It was unsettling—but given the climate we’re living in, sadly, not entirely unexpected. The statistics from the ADL make it clear: the rise in Jew-hatred is real, [...]

A Quick Update As the war between Israel and Iran enters its second week, the reports coming from Israel are heartbreaking. More often than not, conversations with friends have been disrupted by alerts that Iranian missiles were incoming and the other person had to run to their shelter. [...]