Rabbi Cohen’s Writings

Dear Friends,My Kol Nidre sermon was the longest sermon of my career and this will be the shortest Shabbat message since I began sending a weekly message ten years ago...It was wonderful seeing you all as we welcome the new year. I wish each of you, all of us and [...]

Dear Friends, It was wonderful to see so many of you as we welcomed the New Year of 5768. I am deeply grateful to my clergy and Senior Staff colleagues, to our entire incredible staff and our amazing musicians who bring so much beauty to our worship services. [...]

Dear Friends, Every year around this time, someone inevitably asks me a great question: If the Torah refers to the month of Nisan—the spring month when our ancestors left Egypt—as the first month of the year, why do we celebrate Rosh Hashanah now, in Tishrei, which is the [...]

Dear Friends, This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tavo, offers some of the most dramatic images in the entire Torah. Early in the portion, the Israelites are told to position themselves between two mountains—Har Gerizim and Har Ebal. From the top of one of the mountains words of blessing [...]