Rabbi Jody Cohen

Rabbi Jody Cohen was appointed the senior rabbi of Temple Israel of Greater Miami in April 2007. During her tenure, she has implemented several initiatives, including “satellite Shabbat” to celebrate Shabbat at members’ homes, a community garden to support a homeless shelter in Overtown, creative intergenerational worship services and programs, and “Bow-wow-palooza,” an annual blessing of the pets. In November 2007, Rabbi Cohen organized and hosted a community-wide forum on immigration and in June 2007, led the first congregational trip to Israel in a decade.

Prior to becoming senior rabbi at Temple Israel, Rabbi Cohen served from 1997-2007 as the Regional Director for the Southeast Council of the Union for Reform Judaism. Rabbi Cohen also served as national assistant for Inter-religious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee, the solo rabbi of Temple Beth Hillel in South Windsor, Connecticut and associate rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Rabbi Cohen has received training in chaplaincy, hospice care and counseling, specializing in providing pastoral care to the sick, elderly and dying. She has lived on a kibbutz in Israel, led numerous trips to Israel, participated in the March of the Living, been active in outreach to intermarried families and served as an emissary of the Reform Movement to Argentina and the former Soviet Union. In 1985 Rabbi Cohen established Noah’s Ark, the first synagogue run early childcare center in the country for children ages six weeks to five years, which is still in existence.

A recipient of numerous awards, Rabbi Cohen is a charter member of the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame. She most recently served as president of Faith in the City, a center city Miami interfaith organization, and has served as co-president of the Women’s Rabbinic Network, and as an officer of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Rabbi Cohen was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 1984 and received her B.A. degree in international relations from Mt. Holyoke College.