Phone: (216) 831-3233 x117
Rabbi Jonathan Cohen began serving as The Temple’s new Senior Rabbi on July 1, 2018. Rabbi Cohen had served as Dean of Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Cincinnati between September 2011 and July 2018. From July 1998, he was a member of the rabbinics faculty of HUC-JIR. In 2001 he was named director of Hebrew Union College-University of Cincinnati Ethics Center. Rabbi Cohen was born in Israel and served in an armored corps unit of the Israeli Defense Forces from 1987-1990. He studied law at the University of Kent and was awarded a doctorate in law from the University of Liverpool. He was ordained a rabbi in June 2012 from HUC-JIR.
Rabbi Cohen’s mother and her family were uprooted by the spread of Nazism in Europe. His grandmother was curator general of the Israel Museum and his grandfather was an Israeli Supreme Court Justice. His father was a prominent diplomat who served the state of Israel at critical junctures for a period spanning approximately four decades. His mother earned her doctorate in English literature and pioneered interfaith programs in Israel and the United States. Rabbi Cohen is married to Yael Senamaud, a concert violist. She was a tenured member of the Chamber Orchestra of Paris as well as the Palau De Les Artes Reina Sofia Opera in Valencia, Spain. She also has played in orchestras in the United States. Rabbi Cohen and Yael have three young children, Eden, Yasha and Ella.
