Rabbi and Cantor
Edward Paul Cohn, D.MIN., D.D.
Rabbi
RABBI EDWARD PAUL COHN
received his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the University of
Cincinnati in 1970, his Master of Hebrew letters degree from Hebrew
Union College-Jewish of Religion in 1974, and his Doctor of Ministry
degree from the St. Paul School of Theology in 1984.
From 1974 to 1976 Rabbi Cohn was the Assistant Rabbi at The Temple, in
Atlanta, Georgia. He served as the Rabbi of Beth Israel in Macon,
Georgia from 1976 to 1979, and of the New Reform Temple in Kansas City,
Missouri, from 1979 to 1983. Before his selection as Senior Rabbi of
Temple Sinai in New Orleans in 1987, Rabbi Cohn was Rabbi of Temple
Sinai in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
He is past president of the South West Association of Reform
Rabbis. Rabbi Cohn was appointed by the Mayor of New Orleans to
Chair the New Orleans Holocaust Memorial Project. Dr. Cohn served as
founding Chairman of the City Human Relations Committee and is an
active leader in the Jewish and larger communities of the New Orleans
metropolitan region. The Rabbi served from 2005-2007 as ethics
consultant for MSNBC and appeared on “The Ethical Edge.” Under Rabbi
Cohn’s leadership Temple Sinai has become the Jewish address for
interfaith married families, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Bi-Sexual
Jews, Alcoholics Anonymous and Overeaters Anonymous.
Rabbi Cohn was named Contributing Editor of the prestigious national
journal of preaching, Pulpit Digest, and was recently asked to serve on
the Union for Reform Judaism Congregation Committee on the Family. Our
Rabbi was appointed to the joint Commission on Interfaith Relations
sponsored by the Central Conference of Rabbis, and The Men of Reform
Judaism and the Union for Reform Judaism Congregations. He is past
president of the Rabbinical Council of Greater New Orleans and has
served as adjunct professor at Dillard University. The Rabbi currently
serves on the Board of Visitors of Xavier University.
Rabbi Cohn was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He is married to the former
Andrea Levy and they have two daughters, Jennifer and Debra, a
grandson, Maxwell Cohn Kesselheim, and a granddaughter, Ryann Eliza
Kraar.
Joel Colman
Cantor
CANTOR JOEL COLMAN has been
serving as the Cantor at Temple Sinai for the past ten 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.
Cantor Colman 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. He 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
withsome 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, and for the New
Orleans Hornets.
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