From the day Rabbi Myron Fenster found the six-year-old with a stack of books in the library of the Jewish Center of Jackson Heights, to forty-five years as an English teacher and department chair in Hewlett High School and the Brandeis School, to a stint on the HERJC Board of Education and many other synagogue activities, education and Judaism have been twin themes of Lisa Cohen’s life.

 

The Jewish Center of Jackson Heights was an early home. As President of Junior Congregation (brother, Robert, was Cantor), Lisa got to lead services on Shabbat. However, since this predated egalitarian services, her Bat Mitzvah was on a Friday night and included a Haftorah, but no Torah reading. However, Cantor William Gluck (Z”L) let her do the entire service. (She got to repeat the whole Haftorah on a Saturday morning at HERJC on a --much— later birthday).

 

At Smith College, Lisa minored in religion, finding a mentor for Jewish studies in Jochanan Wijnhoven (Z”L), even as she studied world religions. She married Edmund right after college, received a Master’s degree at B.U., and began her career teaching English. When the couple moved to Long Island, they joined Congregation Beth David in Lynbrook; later, they joined HERJC, so that their daughter, Ellen, could be Bat Mitzvahed on Shabbat, just as her brother, Paul, was. Lisa was a member of the Board of Education and then its Chair, for several years. She also received a second Master’s degree and a P.D.(Professional Diploma) from Hofstra. She created and instituted the Bible as/in Literature course and the A.P. Course in English Language at Hewlett High School.

 

The pleasures of being part of the HERJC community were extended to Lisa’s mother, who moved out from Jackson Heights in 1993 and immediately joined the Congregation. She was Bat Mitzvahed here at the age of 79, and she was very proud of her ability to read Hebrew and daven. The fact that daily minyan was available at HERJC was a great comfort to Lisa after her mother died. Lisa continues to make minyan an important part of her life, especially now since Zoom eliminates bad weather exceptions.

 

Upon retirement in 2016, Lisa joined the staff of Hakol, writing and editing articles. Her red pencil was always available, because old habits are hard to break! She is also a member of Sisterhood and the Membership Committee, and was the Chair of the Sukkot Membership Celebration in 2018.She was Kallat Torah for Simchat Torah in 2019. More recently, she worked on the recent Rabbi Search Committee. For the past three years, Lisa has been the Literary Co-Chair of the BQLI Region of Women’s League.

 

Outside of the shul, Lisa has focused many of her efforts on the Theatre Development Fund, which many of us know as the nonprofit that runs the TKTS booth in Times Square. But TDF also does extraordinary work extending the experience of theatre-going to whole New York City high schools, to autistic, deaf, or blind populations, and to others who need various accommodations for theatre attendance. This organization exemplifies the best model of Tikkun Olam, and, for an English teacher who loves both theatre and education, it was a natural fit.

 

Lisa feels great pleasure in sharing this day with Hazzan Bonnie and Moshe Zakarin, Laura Underweiser, and Joan and Jimmy Berkowitz, whose dedication to HERJC has enriched the community for many years, and will continue to do so for many years to come.