For Rabbi David Cohen, it was time for a change

After decades of service and a health scare, the former spiritual leader of Congregation Sinai is on a new path

Rabbi David Cohen last month stepped down from the pulpit at Congregation Sinai after four decades in the rabbinate, closing a chapter he describes as both deeply meaningful and, in recent years, increasingly reflective. 

Cohen, 65, who turns 66 in August, said he never imagined retiring at this age. Like many rabbis, he expected to “hit his stride” around 65 and continue serving indefinitely. But a serious health scare two years ago forced him to confront what he calls the “existential questions” that had long lingered in the background. 

For about a month, specialists believed Cohen had a terminal illness. The diagnosis turned out to be wrong, replaced by something far less serious, and he has since returned to good health. Yet the experience changed him. 

“The net effect was that it got me confronting some of the existential questions that loom large,” he said. Once that process began, he added, it was impossible to simply “turn it off.” 

The timing of the scare — ending the day before Rosh Hashanah — underscored the introspection. As the High Holy Days approached, Cohen found himself thinking more intensely about how he wanted to spend the rest of his life. That is when the idea of retiring from the congregational rabbinate began to take shape. 

Cohen said his retirement is not a transition to another job so much as the closing of a professional chapter. What lies ahead, he hopes, is a “fresh canvas every day,” with the freedom to pursue projects that previously had to compete with the demands of synagogue life. 

He talks about retirement in terms of both freedom and intimidation. The ability to devote sustained time and attention to writing, study and teaching appeals to him. He has already been writing essays, including on Substack, and is considering small, focused study groups with colleagues. Some of this work, he notes, will be primarily for his own intellectual and spiritual exploration rather than for the broader public. 

Cohen’s departure comes as many of his peers are also retiring, an unusual wave he and others partially attribute to the upheavals of the COVID-19 pandemic and broader cultural and political shifts.  

What he will miss most, Cohen said, are the intimate moments with congregants: weddings, funerals and the quieter passages in between, where Jewish ritual helps people navigate change and loss. He described the “privilege of being invited into people’s lives” at their most vulnerable and most joyful as central to the meaning he found in his work. 

Over the years, he has officiated at lifecycle events for the same families across generations. Those long relationships, he said, made the rabbinate feel “completely worth it.” 

Cohen does not plan to disappear from Jewish communal life. He expects to volunteer, continue writing and remain engaged in study. But for now, he is intent on stepping back from the public stage, creating space for Congregation Sinai’s new spiritual leadership, Rabbi Ora Jacobsen, while Cohen turns to the next, less scripted chapter of his life.