Rabbi Jack Cohen, at The Blogs

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May 16, 2021, 12:05 PM

Room for All Around a Modest Mountain

The holiday of Shavuot, which will begin at dusk tonight (Sunday, May 16th) is notoriously the least known of the major Jewish holidays. It boasts no iconic family meal like the Passover Seder. Nor does it have the hands-on,...

Oct 11, 2017, 5:50 PM

Work in progress

We all suffer from a God complex. We want to get things perfectly right the first time, and we get really frustrated with ourselves when we don't. You'd think we would pick up on the pattern by now. You'd think...

Oct 4, 2017, 11:18 PM

Bring down the roof

Dwell under the thin roof of the sukkah and become aware that you will not have your physical blessings forever

Sep 29, 2017, 7:06 AM

A new lease on life

A man, whom I'd never met before, approached me a couple years ago in shul, a few days before Yom Kippur. He asked me if he could tell me something. Intrigued, I said, "of course." "On the first night of...

Sep 28, 2017, 10:03 AM

A grown woman once commented to me that she hadn't spoken to one of her best friends in nearly 10 years. Since "the fight." I was about 13 at the time, so 10 years was practically a lifetime. At...

Sep 26, 2017, 7:46 PM

Break down to build back up

We walk around all day and try to keep it together. We wake up. Morning coffee. Everything's lined-up and color-coded on our Google Calendars. We even try to leave time in-between tasks and meetings so we can make it from...

Sep 24, 2017, 11:56 PM

Guilt is not a mitzvah

Illustrative. Guilt, shame, headache, depression. (via iStock)

When we say 'I'm a bad Jew,' we lose the opportunity to reconnect to the goodness in ourselves

Sep 20, 2017, 7:15 AM

Coming Back to Life

According to the Talmud, the most mysterious part of life is life itself. It's easy to talk about things; sometimes even easier to speak about other people; and of course, the more sophisticated individuals spend their days speaking about their...

Aug 1, 2017, 10:13 PM

A (dis)orienting Thought About Tisha B’Av

Dear friends, Today is Tisha B'Av. Last night and this morning, Jews around the world sat on the floor and struggled to relate to poetry that mourns the destruction of a Temple we never knew and our own exile which we've grown...

Oct 30, 2015, 9:50 AM

A Short Word about Actions

All he said was, "please, take a bit of water...I'll get bread, and you'll eat until your hearts' content..." It was just enough to convince his guests, perfect strangers, to sit in the shade for long enough for him...

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About Me

Rabbi Jack Cohen is the Director of Education of the Jewish Enrichment Center in West Village of New York City, working to create interactive educational programs that grant access to Torah that is deep and relevant to 20-somethings who are thirsty for it. Rabbi Jack served as a campus rabbi for Meor at the University of Pennsylvania and an Israel programs educator before that. He is currently coauthoring a book on the subject of individuality and self-esteem through the eyes of the Sages, called "Born to Be." He received his Rabbinic ordination in Jerusalem after his BA from Penn in Physics and Philosophy, and earned his Masters in Education at Harvard last year.