Open Search form

Simeon Cohen

Apply for a Blog

May 29, 2026, 6:44 PM

The Priestly Blessing and Forever Young

This week was the 25th (!) anniversary of my Bar Mitzvah. I always know exactly how many years it has been since my Bar Mitzvah, because I celebrated becoming a Bar Mitzvah on the same weekend that Bob Dylan...

Jan 15, 2026, 6:22 PM

Bob Weir, Jerry Garcia, Aaron and Moses

Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead This week, the world lost Bob Weir, the rhythm guitarist and co-leader of the Grateful Dead. Jerry Garcia died in 1995, when I was just seven years old, so for me, Weir...

Dec 19, 2025, 3:28 PM

7 O’Clock News/Maoz Tzur

In 1966, the folk-rock duo Simon and Garfunkel recorded a track called “7 O'Clock News/Silent Night” for their third album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. The track is a sound collage–Simon and Garfunkel’s version of the Christmas carol “Silent...

Nov 3, 2025, 9:29 PM

Abraham was a warrior. So are the Neutras

This past Shabbat, we read the beginning of the story of Abraham, which is also the beginning of the story of the Jewish people. We often think of Abraham as a patriarch. As the father not only of Judaism,...

Oct 28, 2025, 10:30 AM

Springsteen Went Acoustic, Abraham Went Monotheist

We are in the midst of a renaissance of music biopics. Last year brought us A Complete Unknown, featuring Timothée Chalamet’s electrifying performance as a young Bob Dylan. And this week, Jeremy Allen White channels a 31-year-old Bruce Springsteen...

Nov 10, 2023, 4:59 PM

Now and Then: October 7th and November 9th

Last week, the Beatles released their final song, a wistful postscript to their career called “Now and Then.” “Now and Then” is built around a demo-track that John Lennon recorded in his home studio 1977. In 1995, fifteen years...

Mar 11, 2022, 7:57 PM

The Spirit of the Jewish People Thrives in Ukraine

In the first century of the Common Era, Rome was the world’s unquestioned leading imperial superpower. The Roman Empire reigned all over Europe and the Mediterranean basin, from Britain to Egypt, including, of course, Judea–the land of Israel. Yet...

Jan 17, 2022, 5:54 AM

Looking out from the Mountaintop after Colleyville

On April 3rd, 1968--the day before he was assassinated–Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his legendary “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop Speech” in Memphis. He closed that speech with the following words: “I don't know what will happen now. We've...

May 24, 2021, 11:02 AM

At 80 years old, may Bob Dylan stay forever young

In 1966, just a month after the release of his iconic double-album Blonde on Blonde, Bob Dylan, the great Jewish American bard, crashed his motorcycle. In the wake of the accident, Dylan largely withdrew from public life -- he...

May 13, 2021, 8:54 PM

A prayer for my daughter

Illustrative baby (iStock)

May she grow up to see the day when Jews and Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians see each other as brothers and sisters

Load more

About Me

Rabbi Simeon Cohen is the rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in Livingston, NJ, where he resides with his wife, Dr. Ariel Fein, their daughters Amalya and Sivan and their samoyed, Ophelia.

Contact Me