Leopold Cohn (Christian Clergyman)

Leopold Hoffman Cohn (September 12, 1862, Berezna, Hungary - December 19, 1937, Brooklyn, NY) was a Jewish convert to Evangelicalism who formed the Brownsville Mission to the Jews, an organization that now exists as Chosen People Ministries. Cohn lived in Hungary, and, shortly after his arrival to the United States, converted to Evangelicalism. He was ordained a Baptist minister. In his day, he was one of the most successful and controversial Christian evangelists to the Jews.Ariel (2000). p. 30. "Although Jewish activists despised him, Cohn undoubtedly possessed a personality that impressed both Christian supporters and prospective converts. It is an ironic fact that this very controversial evangelist laid the foundation for what would later become the largest mission to the Jews in America and made many more converts than any other missionary during the 1890s to 1910s. This included persons who later made a name for themselves and enjoyed a great amount of respectability in the evangelical community, such as Samuel Needleman, who became a minister in Maine." In 1930, Cohn was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity by Wheaton College, an Evangellical college.

Cohn states in his autobiography that he was ordained as a rabbi in his native Hungary in the 1880s, though Jews doubted this claim. Yaakov Shalom Ariel, assistant professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, writes that "there could be little doubt that he was well read in rabbinical literature and had acquired, after his conversion to Christianity, a good knowledge of Christian theology as well."Ariel (2000). p. 101. "Although Jews doubted Leopold Cohn's claim that he had actually been an ordained rabbi before his conversion to Christianity, there could be little doubt that he was well read in rabbinical literature and had acquired, after his conversion to Christianity, a good knowledge of Christian theology as well." Even his name was contested: Rabbi David Max Eichhorn writes that "As early as October 13, 1893, Adolph Benjamin wrote in the ''Hebrew Standard'' that Cohn's real name was Itsak Leib Joszovics".Eichhorn, David Max (1978). ''Evangelizing the American Jew''. Jonathan David Publishers. p. 173. In a 1913 court case, a number of people claiming to be Cohn's relatives and friends stated that Cohn was in fact Joszovics, a saloonkeeper who had been arrested and sentenced for fraud in Hungary in 1891, and that he left Hungary to avoid serving a two and a half years sentence, leaving behind his wife and children.Ariel (2000). p. 29."The mission's antagonists drew a different biographical sketch. Cohn's real name, they argued, was Itsak Leib Joszovics. Orphaned at an early age, he received little education, and upon marriage and settling in his wife's hometown, he became an inn- or saloon keeper rather than a rabbi. The Hungarian authorities, the alternative biography says, charged him and his brother-in-law with forging the deed of a dead peasant's farm. Joszovics (alias Cohn) fled. Thereafter, one's assertion of Cohn's true identity and the biographical account one chooses to adopt have typically reflected one's standing not only toward Cohn the person, but also toward his mission as a whole, and at times, toward the movement to evangelize the Jews at large. For his supporters he was the former rabbi he claimed to have been. For Jewish antagonists, and at times non-Jews, he symbolized all that was wrong with the movement to evangelize the Jews." Melton, J. Gordon (1999). ''Religious leaders of America: A biographical guide to founders and leaders of religious bodies, churches, and spiritual groups in North America''. Gale Research. p. 129. "... several people claiming to be the relatives and friends of Itzak Leib Joszovics, a convicted felon whose life seemed to closely parallel Cohn's, swore in a New York court that Joszovics and Cohn were the same person. Cohn denied the accusations and the court refused to act upon the charge". The relationship between Cohn and his detractors was acrimonious, resulting in several lawsuits and counter-complaints. Cohn denied the accusations and the court refused to act upon the charge.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohn, Leopold
1862 births
1937 deaths
Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States
Austro-Hungarian Jews
American evangelicals
Converts to Christianity from Judaism
Messianic clergy