Rabbi Cohen’s Writings

Dear Friends, In this week’s Torah portion, Tzav, we read, "This is the torah of burnt offerings." The rabbis of old asked why the Torah made the unusual choice to use the word torah- "teaching" or "instruction," rather than something more direct such as "These are the rules." [...]

Dear Friends, In 1985, Charles Silberman published a book entitled, A Certain People: American Jews and Their Lives Today. It discussed the early challenges faced by our community in America and the extraordinary successes we have achieved. It discussed the many contributions the Jewish community has made to this country [...]

Dear Friends, In an article from ten years ago Rabbi Daniel Gordis makes a direct connection between the festival of Purim and the evil of Amalek, an enemy of our people in antiquity who attacked our community from the rear, targeting the most vulnerable in the community. (Those [...]

Dear Friends, I spent this past week at two powerful, important, albeit troubling conferences. The first was a small gathering of 100 rabbis sponsored by the Leffell Foundation, Maimonides Fund and the Paul E Singer Foundation. Entitled “Zionism: A New Conversation,” for three days we met with leading educators to [...]