Bruce Cohen Interview

A former member of the singing group "Kol Simcha," Bruce has written many wonderful Messianic songs which are featured in this broadcast.

Rabbi Bruce Cohen, founding rabbi of Congregation Beth El of Manhattan – the longest enduring Manhattan Messianic Jewish congregation in New York City's history – has been a widely sought and highly respected teacher and conference speaker on Messianic Jewish and Scripture-related topics all over the world since 1978. His uncompromised faith in the God of Israel and Yeshua of Nazareth as Messiah, balanced by a thorough and erudite Jewish theology and worldview, has earned the notice and respect of several mainstream Jewish rabbis in New York City – and even invitations to study about Messiah privately, debate the subject publicly, and for his congregation to serve in mainstream Manhattan Jewish institutional events. Rabbi Bruce was a quintessential Princeton "preppy," graduating high school from The Hun School of Princeton as an academic honors student, student government leader, magazine editor, and sports varsity "three letter man" with a state championship as a lacrosse midfielder. He went on to earn a cum laude double bachelor's degree in comparative literature and theater direction from Union College, with additional work in language at Columbia University, several rabbinic ordinations [see video], and certification from the State of Pennsylvania in both secondary and elementary education. He was also an appointee to the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center's prestigious National Theatre Institute. Rabbi Cohen authored and edited dictionary definitions for Houghton Mifflin's American Heritage Dictionary (one of the most-used in the world), and served for nearly a decade as a teacher and then principal of a private Messianic Jewish day school. He has also served as a co-director and teacher of adult religious class programs, and a teacher of rabbis in yeshiva/seminary. He was the keynote speaker at South Africa's National Millennium Messianic Jewish Conference in the year 2000; and remains actively involved with Messianic Jewish groups in Israel, South Africa, and many other locations all across the globe. He was a yeshiva teacher for Maranatha and Hear O Israel Ministries in the former Soviet Union, and was Stage Director and Designer for Hear O Israel's first Messianic Music Festivals in Moscow, St. Petersburg (Leningrad), and Minsk. He also wrote and co-directed the ground-breaking popular "Dance for Joy" worship dance instructional video.