About Rabbi Cohon

Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon is the Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El of Tucson, Arizona.  During his ten years as Senior Rabbi, the Temple has grown from 350 to 800 families, built a new 100-student Early Childhood Education Center, created the most extensive Jewish Adult Education Academy in the country and, through its Taste of Judaism program, opened its doors to over 2500 students in an open explanation of Jewish tradition.  He has also spearheaded the development of a comprehensive Outreach Program, an embracing Caring Community, a dynamic music program including the Avanim Rock Band and several choirs, and a wealth of other new programming.  His weekly radio show, Too Jewish, is broadcast Sunday mornings in Tucson at 9 AM on KVOI 1030 AM, on KAPR 930 AM in Douglas, Bisbee, and Sierra Vista, and on KJAA 1240 AM in Globe, and is podcasted on iTunes, and covers and highlights a wide variety of important Jewish and general community issues.

Rabbi Cohon has also become a leader in both the Jewish and the general community, and is the past Chair of the Multi-Faith Alliance of Tucson, which he helped found in the wake of September 11, 2001.  Rabbi Cohon is a past President of the Tucson Board of Rabbis, a member of the Rabbinic Cabinet of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) and the United Jewish Communities.  He also served on the Board of Handmaker Services for the Aged.  Rabbi Cohon served as a member of the Rotary Club of Tucson, the Metropolitan Education Commission, and served on the Board of the Prime School and the Red Cross Real Heroes Selection Committee. 

In addition, working closely with the City of Tucson, Rabbi Cohon coordinated services and memorial events on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and served as honorary co-chairman for the Catholic Foundation Dinner honoring the retiring Bishop Manuel Moreno.  Rabbi Cohon received the "Make a Difference Award" presented by the Human Relations Commission of the City of Tucson in 2004.  

Previously the Rabbi of Congregation B'nai Israel in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where he was named Outstanding Religious Leader of the Year, he chaired the Human Relations Commission of Spartanburg and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee, co-founded the Interfaith Religious Group, and served as Program Chairman for the Spartanburg Rotary Club.  He is also a trained cantor who served pulpits in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, and has recorded three commercial CD’s of Jewish music, the latest released in 2003, called “Shabbat Rocks!”  He is also the editor of "The Promise Haggadah for Passover.” 

Rabbi Cohon has held student rabbinic pulpits in Sydney, Australia, and Billings, Montana, among other places, and Cantorial pulpits in Santa Barbara, California, Vancouver, British Columbia and Jerusalem, and served on national rabbinic and Cantorial boards.  Rabbi Cohon is a third-generation rabbi, a marathoner, a wine enthusiast, and a softball player.  He is married to Dr. Wendy S. Weise, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Arizona, and has two sons, Boaz and Gabriel, and a daughter Cipora.