Rabbi Cohn received his B.A. Degree with Honors from the University of Cincinnati in 1970, his Master of Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1974, and his Doctor of Ministry Degree from the St. Paul School of Theology in 1983.  Rabbi Cohn was elected to his position at Temple Sinai in 1987.

Rabbi Cohn was appointed to the Leadership Forum of the Metropolitan Area Committee for 1988-89, and was appointed by then Mayor Sidney Barthelemy as his personal representative to the Human Relations Commission of the Metropolitan Area Committee. He has served five terms on this Commission, having also been appointed by Mayor Marc Morial. Rabbi Cohn has served as both Vice Chair and Chairman.

Rabbi Cohn is a Contributing Editor of Pulpit Digest, and has been appointed to the bio-ethics committees of Touro Infirmary, Ochsner Medical Center and Mercy-Baptist Hospital. He also serves with distinction as Adjunct Professor at Dillard University where he teaches a course on "The History of Jewish Thought." In addition, Rabbi Cohn has produced and moderated  two television shows seen on cable channels in the New Orleans area, "Faith to Faith" and "Shalom New Orleans."

Rabbi Cohn presently serves as National Chairman of the Committee on Aging of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and is a member of the UAHC Commission on Interreligious Affairs.

Rabbi Cohn was invited by President Clinton's Board on Race to be a delegate at The First Regional Forum For Religious Community Leaders at Tulane University.  He was one of five panelists on the subject of "Faith and Race."

 CANTOR JOEL COLMAN has been serving as the Cantor at Temple Sinai for the past four years. Previously he has served as the Cantor at Temple B’rith Kodesh in Rochester, New York and as the Cantor/Educator at Greenwich Reform Synagogue in Greenwich, Connecticut. He received a Master Degree from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, School of Sacred Music where he was invested as Cantor in 1995, and graduated from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan with a BA in Special Education. Cantor Colman is also a past regional director for the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and has taught High School in Texas and in Israel.

Cantor Colman has sung in concerts in New Orleans, Rochester, St. Louis, Miami, Detroit, Tulsa, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York City and Jerusalem, and has also been the featured artist at two concerts held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Cantor Colman has sung with some of the finest male college choirs in the country such as the Wayne State University Glee Club in Detroit, Michigan, and the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Cantor Colman’s master thesis on Sidor Belarsky was published by the Journal of Synagogue Music. Cantor Colman has sung our National Anthem at the 2002 Nokia Sugar Bowl, which was heard nationwide on ABC-TV.

Cantor Colman is proud to serve the New Orleans community as a Chaplain with the New Orleans Fire Department, and is a member of the American Conference of Cantors and serves on the Board of Directors. He is an active amateur radio operator, and is the amateur radio emergency coordinator for Orleans Parish. Beginning in July, 2003, Cantor Colman will also take on the responsibility of being the Temple Sinai Religious School Director. He lives in uptown New Orleans with his wife Jackie, who teaches in the Temple Sinai Religious School and Mid-Week Hebrew program, and son Joshua who attends Ecole Classique in Metairie, and their two black labs, Ben & Jazz.