Rabbi Michael Cohen

Born in Wilmington, Delaware, Michael split his childhood between Wilmington, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and finally Chicago where he attended Solomon Schechter for 8th grade. Michael then went to Ida Crown for high school and attended Camp Ramah in Wisconsin during the summers. He had his first formal teaching opportunity in 2004 when he taught Jewish teens at the high school program at Beth Am Shalom, and has been teaching at various Jewish institutions ever since.

In 2006, Michael graduated from the joint-program between the Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University with degrees in Hebrew Bible and 20th-century History magna cum laude. He then spent a year abroad working for the Masorti Movement as part of a program to reach out to Jewish university students throughout the United Kingdom. It was during this year that Michael was inspired to become a rabbi, and returned to JTS as a rabbinical student in 2007.

Michael continued to teach during his time at rabbinical school, working at Temple Israel Center with Nancy Parkes in addition to commitments in Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. To complement his ordination from JTS where he received the Rabbi Sidney Greenberg prize for excellence in homiletics, Michael earned a master's degree in Jewish Education from the Davidson School of Education where he concentrated in congregational education. It was during his practicum at the religious school at Congregation Rodeph Shalom with Tirza Arad that Michael saw the great potential of religious school education and decided that he would like to invest himself in helping that institution fulfill its promise. While at Rodeph Shalom, Michael ran a "Chevrutah Initiative" designed to help teachers support each other and improve their pedagogy.

Thrilled to be returning to his hometown Jewish community and working in such a vibrant congregation with a strong professional staff, Michael spends most of his free time in Albany, New York, where his fiancee Anna Rosenblum is finishing up her M.D. He also enjoys cycling, squash, photography, and travel.

Rabbi Cohen can be contacted by phone at 847-256-0755 or via email.