Washington - Former secretary of defense William Cohen had long had a mezuza sitting around his house, but it was only during the recent High Holy Days that he got around to putting it up on his door.
Cohen grew up going to synagogue, but after being spurned by his childhood rabbi, he distanced himself from the faith. The distance closed this year when a young, ambitious Washington rabbi called up Cohen and invited him back into the fold. As the first step, the rabbi went to Cohen’s apartment the night before Yom Kippur and helped install the old mezuza.
“I’ve been waiting for this call for years,” Cohen told the rabbi, Shmuel Herzfeld, after the initial contact was established. He later told the Forward that he also plans to take up the rabbi’s offer to attend synagogue.
Cohen, 67, is, of course, most famous for his three years as Bill Clinton’s secretary of defense — the only Republican in Clinton’s Cabinet. Since retiring from politics, though, Cohen has been pushing his cultural bona fides. He has written a fictional thriller, and early this year he co-authored with his wife, Janet Langhart Cohen, the book “Love in Black and White,” which depicts the Cohens’ experience as an inter-racial couple in America.
In an interview this week, Cohen stressed that he feels he is not reconnecting to Judaism but rather creating a more deeply informed fusion between his different identities. “We are more spiritual than affiliated with one religion or another,” he said.
Last year, the couple celebrated both Christmas and Hanukkah. They also attend other Jewish festivities with friends and neighbors.
Cohen himself comes from a marriage between a Russian Jewish baker and an Irish Protestant woman. The family lived in Bangor, Maine, and Cohen went to the local Hebrew school every Sunday for six years, where he was a top student. When bar mitzvah time came, however, the rabbi refused to allow Cohen to undergo the ceremony, demanding that he first convert to Judaism.
Cohen was offended by the refusal, and so he parted with Jewish studies. “As a teenager, I had an experience with a certain rabbi who was probably too conservative, but I have left that behind me,” Cohen said this week.
Cohen’s other childhood encounters with Judaism were also not uniformly positive.
“When you’re not part of the Jewish community but you still carry the quintessential Jewish name, it is sometimes challenging.” Cohen said. “For the gentiles, I was always Jewish.” He remembers being a target of antisemitic slurs when playing basketball in Maine.
For the Jewish establishment, on the other hand, Cohen was never Jewish enough, though he says he always had Jewish friends and still walks around with a ring bearing his Hebrew name, Ze’ev.
Cohen, a lawyer, was initially elected to congress in 1972. He was the first Republican to support the move to impeach Nixon from his presidency, and after three terms in the House he was elected to the Senate, where he served for 18 years before the appointment by Clinton.
As a politician, Cohen was considered to be friendly to Israel and to pro-Israeli activists, though in 1981 he did vote in favor of selling surveillance planes to Saudi Arabia, a deal that infuriated the pro-Israel lobby in Washington. Since leaving politics, Cohen has started his own consulting firm, The Cohen Group.
It was Cohen’s wife who revived his interest in Judaism. Langhart Cohen’s parents had worked at a Jewish household in Indianapolis when she was a child, and “she grew up with a lot of Jewish background,” Cohen said. She even knew many of the Jewish traditional dishes that Cohen’s father grew up eating in Russia.
Last winter, the couple bought their first menorah and lit the Hanukkah candles. Langhart Cohen found the family mezuza, which had never been posted, and gave it to Herzfeld when he visited the family last month.
“She is very eager to embrace the Jewish culture and traditions,” Cohen said of his wife.
Herzfeld, the rabbi who finally got to the Cohens, has developed a reputation for reaching Washingtonians who have few ties to Judaism.
“Some people in this town have extensive Rolodexes,” Herzfeld told congregants at Ohev Sholom – the National Synagogue, during his Kol Nidre sermon. “I, too, have an extensive Rolodex. Mine is of people who do not return my calls or respond to my e-mails.”
Herzfeld is a Modern Orthodox rabbi, but he has used tactics that might be more familiar to the aggressive outreach associated with the Chabad-Lubavitch ultra-Orthodox sect. This week he set up a sukkah at a busy intersection on K Street, Washington’s political lobbying corridor. Last year during Hanukkah, Herzfeld was seen spinning dreidels at the Farragut North Metro station, trying to draw the attention of downtown commuters.
Herzfeld says that he is used to being turned down. But that was not the case with the Cohens. It was Langhart Cohen who responded to his e-mail, inviting Herzfeld for a visit.
Herzfeld said he knew that under Orthodox law, Cohen would not be considered Jewish, but he wanted to “to try and fix the pain that was caused to him as a result of his previous encounter with Judaism.”
More than that, Herzfeld said that Cohen has “Zera Yisrael — the seed of Israel; that he has a Jewish soul.”
In his meeting with Cohen, he told the former secretary of defense how sorry he was for losing him as part of the Jewish people.
“The tragedy is that if they had only seen your potential, we could have had another rabbi for our people. The world got a secretary of defense, but the Jewish people could have had a great rabbi.”
Why does Cohen have to put up a mezuzah? He's not Jewish, because his mother wasn't Jewish, and so if he wants to be Jewish he has to undergo the hardships of conversion to become a member of the tribe, like anyone else without a Jewish mother. The father's Jewishness is irrelevant under Jewish law. It is forbidden to proselytize non-Jews into becoming members of the tribe. Quite the contrary, converts have to be discouraged. Only one with the same fervor, sincerity and fastidiousness of Ruth the Moabitess can be accepted. There is nothing wrong with him being a Christian, or whatever. Judaism does not claim any superior access to paradise over any other faith, so it's pointless to become a Jew if you've not been born into the tribe. Those born into it did not choose of their own free will, and can do or not do what they want. But those who really want to be a Jew have to prove to the rabbis that they are willing to go the whole 9 yards. It's all quite simple.
As the son iof a Christian Mother, I was raised as a Jew. Ergo, I am Happily a Jew. Have been one for eighty years. Why the fuss about someone who may have returned to his faith! Shame on you narrow minded. Do you rfeally call yourselves Jew
If more Gentiles like Cohen get mezuzahs where will Jews get them? I don't think the supply will go up that easily.
whether it is a Lubavitcher or ultra Reform rabbi jews need every individual who wishes to identify himself as one so kol hakovod to all who enable this to happen. rabb Lubavit
Judaism is not a blood line........it is a system of beliefs and practices. Matrilineal descent is something that a bunch of Rabbis concocted long ago. Moses himself wasn't even raised Jewish, so I guess that means that his ordination of Joshua before his death was invalid. NOT!!!!!! And here's another irony.........I am a Kohayn, which is totally patrilineal, according to "tradition." The whole thing is really silly, IMHO. I'm not advocating outright evangelistic endeavors, but let's not be so high and mighty that we, as mere humans, should decide who is Jewish and who is not. If someone desires to become Jewish, then that person should be encouraged and welcomed with open arms and smiles, not discouragement and frowns. We are all accountable to God, Who has the final say, anyway, not a bunch of Rabbis who lived long ago, or today, for that matter. At the end of this email, you will see my name and my Rabbinical student status. Some people will even think that my future Semicha will not be valid, because it is distance learning and, therefore, "non-traditional." Again, just as with conversion, no Rabbi has the right to point his/her finger at another Rabbi, and say, "Your ordination is not valid!" Only God can do that. I refer the reader to my Mosaic analogy, above. Just think how the course of Jewish history would have changed if Joshua's ordination by Moses had not been accepted by the Jewish people! Shalom, Ed Horwitz Semicha Student Rabbinical Seminary International
Mr. Cohen was hardly "spurned" by a rabbi making the logical request that a non-Jew formally adopt Judaism as his faith before his bar mitzvah as an adult Jew! If this still rankles, then he hasn't matured at all in the last 55 years!
A few comments. Though I've heard of Secy Cohen's story before, it's odd that he attended Hebrew School for a few years before someone let the cat out of the bag that his mom wasn't Jewish. I can understand a Russian born father not thinking that Reform was authentic, but this is never discussed. The other thought is that this is a nice story, but I'm interested if this will trickle down to the kids and grandkids of the likes of Wm Cohen, Mad. Allbrigt, Barry Goldwater, etc etc...
I'd say springing it on the night before the ceremony was a bit late, and offensive in context for someone who certainly looked forward to the ceremony. Not that I know, but how would his mother have seemed in context as well -- love for Judaism is a good thing, and so is loving one's mom. Raising Judaism up shouldn't depend on minimizing other precious souls. Perhaps hosting the ceremony at a Reform community would have been "chosen" if a decision were to have been made timely and validates the centuries old principle of patrilineal descent. Also, what is an orthodox view of a mezzuzah on a gentile's doorpost? My view is that displaying -- and feeling -- a love of God in your life and raising up this fact in your home is a good thing, and too often not done. My hunch is that young William saw the conflict set up by the rabbi as one that belied his soul's feeling and love for both mother and faith. I saw similar lies in many institutions in American life. So regarding others' commnets: Dave: Why is this a problem? Those that want to make them will come forward, and if more want them, of any faith, thank G-d! Pnina: Exactly right!! Kathleen Griffin: I disagree with your premise. (As a related matter, how you set up a joke -- if you're that Kathy Griffin -- drives how well it's received. ;-)
To the FORWARD: How about putting a "send" button in your "Email this article" link. :)
"So it's pointless to become a Jew if you've not been born into the tribe..." says Jack G. I dare you to tell my Reform rabbis and all the Jews they have led through years of study, prayer and conversion that their work was pointless -- unless you choose to be close-minded and unwilling to accept people who WANT, who CHOOSE to live the Jewish life and faith. I took that road, choosing to learn and live and pray as a Jew. I also think that William Cohen has come to be proud of his Jewish heritage, no matter whether it was through his father or his mother. (Also -- and this is totally off topic -- what do you mean by "Ruth the Moabitess." What's a Moabitess? I always thought one was a Moabite, no matter the gender. Saying "Moabitess" is like calling Golda Meir an "Israelitess." Can't find that in my dictionary.)
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