Martin Samuel Cohen is rabbi of the Shelter Rock Jewish Center in

Roslyn, New York Roslyn ( ) is a village in the Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is the Greater Roslyn area's anchor community. The population was 2,770 at the 2010 census. History Ro ...

Biography

Cohen was educated at the

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...

and at

Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studie ...

, where he was ordained a rabbi and received his Ph.D. in ancient Judaism. His dissertation dealt with the early Jewish mystical work

Shiur Komah Shi’ur Qomah ( he, שיעור קומה, lit. Dimensions of the Body) is a midrashic text that is part of the Hekhalot literature. It purports to record, in anthropomorphic terms, the secret names and precise measurements of God's corporeal limbs ...

. At that time he also studied the legal writings of

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...

together with his friend Rabbi Dr. Zvi Leshem, currently the director of the

Gershom Scholem Gershom Scholem () (5 December 1897 – 21 February 1982), was a German-born Israeli philosopher and historian. Widely regarded as the founder of modern academic study of the Kaballah, Scholem was appointed the first professor of Jewish Mystici ...

Collection at the

National Library of Israel The National Library of Israel (NLI; he, הספרייה הלאומית, translit=HaSifria HaLeumit; ar, المكتبة الوطنية في إسرائيل), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; he, בית הספרים הלא� ...

. He has taught at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

, at the

, at the Institute for Jewish Studies of the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

, and at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

and

Vancouver School of Theology The Vancouver School of Theology is a ecumenical divinity school located on the campus of and formally affiliated with the University of British Columbia. VST is called to educate and form thoughtful, engaged and generous Christian leaders. Fac ...

. Cohen also served as rabbi at 1986–1999 at Beth Tikvah Congregation in

Richmond, British Columbia Richmond is a coastal city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. It occupies almost the entirety of Lulu Island (excluding Queensborough), between the two estuarine distributaries of the Fraser River. Encompassing the ad ...

and from 1999 to 2002 at Congregation Eilat in

Mission Viejo Mission Viejo ( ; corruption of ''Misión Vieja'', Spanish for "Old Mission") is a commuter city in the Saddleback Valley in Orange County, California, United States. Mission Viejo is considered one of the largest master-planned communities eve ...

, California. In 2002, he became rabbi of the Shelter Rock Jewish Center in

. Cohen is the author of academic articles, novels, and books of essays. His publications include ''Our Haven and Our Strength: The Book of Psalms'' (Aviv Press, 2003) and ''The Boy on the Door on the Ox: An Unusual Spiritual Journey Through the Strangest Jewish Texts'' (Aviv Press). Rabbi Cohen published a Siddur in 2007 called ''Siddur Tzur Yisrael''. From 1997 to 2000, Cohen was chairman of the Publications Committee of the

Rabbinical Assembly The Rabbinical Assembly (RA) is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, an ...

, and he then became chair of the editorial board of the quarterly journal ''

Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generatio ...

''. In April 2012, the

published a new guide to Jewish law and practice, ''The Observant Life: The Wisdom of Conservative Judaism for Contemporary Jews'', edited by Rabbi Cohen and Rabbi Michael Katz.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Martin Samuel Living people American Jewish theologians American Conservative rabbis Jewish Theological Seminary of America semikhah recipients Jewish American writers Hunter College faculty Academic staff of Heidelberg University People from Roslyn, New York Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American rabbis 21st-century American rabbis