[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 64 (Thursday, May 1, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E855]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CONGRATULATING RABBI HENRY COHEN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 1, 2003

  Mr. HOEFFEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Henry Cohen of 
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, who is celebrating the 50th 
anniversary of his ordination in the rabbinate.
  Henry Cohen was born in 1927 in Houston, Texas into a family of 
reform rabbis. Rabbi Cohen has been involved with and contributed to 
Jewish education for his entire career. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa 
from the University of Texas as an English major and attending graduate 
classes in the English Department of the University of Chicago, he 
entered Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati in 1947. After being 
ordained in 1953, he served as an Army chaplain at Camp Polk, 
Louisiana, in Korea and at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio.
  In 1955, he became assistant rabbi at Temple Beth-El in Great Neck, 
New York. In 1958 Henry became the spiritual leader of Sinai Temple in 
Illinois. At the university of Illinois he received a Master of Arts 
Degree in the Philosophy of Education and wrote a study entitled, ``The 
Idea of God in Jewish Education.'' He also completed a study, ``Jewish 
Life and Thought in the Academic Community,'' which was included in 
Marshall Sklare's The Jew in American Society. Continuing in education 
he taught a course in Judaism at St. Joseph's College during the 
1970's. Rabbi Cohen has been teaching introduction to Judaism classes 
and has completed a research project for the Jewish Outreach Institute 
designed to discover what actually happens in the families of 
interfaith married couples who, at the time of their wedding, made a 
commitment to give their children a Jewish education. He developed a 
``Beliefs and Values Survey for Interfaith Couples'' to enable them to 
clarify the similarities and differences of their religious and moral 
beliefs.
  In 1964, Rabbi Cohen became the rabbi of Beth David Reform 
Congregation in Philadelphia. There he initiated a bi-cultural Black-
Jewish nursery school and was chairman of the Jewish Coalition for 
Peace. Rabbi Cohen wrote two books: Justice, Justice: A Jewish View of 
the Black Revolution and Why Judaism?--A Search for Meaning In Jewish 
Identity.
  He has visited the Middle East to gain a new perspective on the Arabs 
and Israelis. In 1986 Rabbi Cohen, and his wife Edna, visited the 
Soviet Union where they met the parents of Beth David's Cantor, Lilia 
Kazansky, and began a successful campaign to fight for their release. 
The couple gained their freedom in 1987. Rabbi Cohen also encouraged 
the formation of Chavurah Lahayyim, to support Central American 
refugees fleeing persecution. Rabbi Cohen helped form the Interfaith 
Hospitality Network of the Main Line which helps the homeless by 
providing meals and care in synagogues and churches.
  Rabbi Cohen is an honorary board member of the Jewish Community 
Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia and received the Sylvia K. 
Cohen award for work in inter-group relations. He has been married to 
Edna for 45 years with two daughters, Shelley and Lisa.
  I am grateful to Rabbi Cohen for his 50 years of service to the 
Jewish Community and the Philadelphia region as a whole.

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