Boaz Cohen (1899–1968) was a leading American scholar of

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

, a legal decisor (

posek In Jewish law, a ''Posek'' ( he, פוסק , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the position of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities a ...

), and a professor at the

Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studie ...

Biography

Cohen was born and educated in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...

. He was ordained as a

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

at the

(JTS) in 1924. Following his ordination, he was appointed Assistant Librarian of JTS. In 1925, he was appointed an instructor of

, and went on to serve on the JTS faculty for four decades. In 1927, he received his Ph.D. from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. During his career he published extensively on the Talmud and

Jewish law ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws which is derived from the Torah, written and Oral Tora ...

, while also authoring many comparative studies between Jewish law and other legal systems. Many of those studies were published in a collection titled ''Jewish and Roman Law'' (New York, 1966). Cohen also served as Chair of the Committee on Jewish Law of the

Rabbinical Assembly The Rabbinical Assembly (RA) is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, an ...

, and he issued thousands of legal rulings."Boaz Cohen (1899-1968)," by Elias J. Bickerman and Edward M. Gershfield, ''Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research,'' Vol. 37, (1969), pp. xxxi

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Boaz 1899 births 1968 deaths American Conservative rabbis Jewish Theological Seminary of America semikhah recipients Jewish historians Talmudists American religion academics Judaic studies People from Bridgeport, Connecticut Columbia University alumni 20th-century American rabbis