Cohen, Simon A.

Epithet: of Whitechapel

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000471.0x0000cc

Simon Cohen was born in 1894 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was educated at the Friends School and John Hopkins University. Cohen later received his ordination from Hebrew Union College in 1916, and earned the HUC Doctor of Divinity degree in 1924.

Cohen served as a congregational rabbi in numerous locations including Providence, Rhode Island, Springfield, Ohio, Pueblo, Colorado, Greensboro, North Carolina, Selma, Alabama, and New York City (an assistant rabbi at both Temple Beth El and Temple Emanu-El) before turning to an academic career.

In 1924, he became a staff member at the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, where he was to remain until 1944. During this period, Cohen also taught at the Hebrew Union College School for Teachers and the Jewish School for Teachers. In 1952, Simon Cohen joined the staff of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's Klau Library, in Cincinnati. He retired from HUC-JIR in 1971.

Cohen wrote numerous books including Essence of Judaism (1932) and Shaary Tefila: A History of the Hundred Years, 1845-1945 (1945). He also wrote and edited hundreds of articles for the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, the Interpreter's Bible Dictionary and Religion in Geshicte und Gegenwart .

Simon Cohen died on 3 June 1977 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He married Dagmar Abramson in 1944.

From the guide to the Simon Cohen Papers, 1911-1971, (The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives)