I OBITUARIES I HAVE YOU RECENTLY LOST A LOVED ONE? Hebrew Memorial Chapel Announces Grief Counseling Sessions At No Charge Gerson Cohen, 66, Conservative Leader group meetings at the chapel on alternate Thursdays beginning August 29, 1991 at 7:15 p.m. led by Elaine Burton Medwed, M.A. For additional information, call 543-1622 .NNIMF A MEM Hebrew Memorial Chapel r.mx `7%:, non 26640 Greenfield Road Oak Park, Michigan 48237 MEW 111111=11 =NM& 411111MMIN MEMIIIIIME1111111.111111. Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today. Call 354.6060 SAY IT WITH TREES Graveside Services We Provide Substantial Savings Serving all Cemeteries The assurance that your loved one will be treated according to Jewish law with respect and reverence. JEWISH NATIONAL FUND 18877 W. Ten Mile Road Suite 104 Southfield. Michigan 48075 Phone: (313) 557-6644 Chapel Services Available AlanH. orfman Funeral Direction Monday thru Thursday 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. Friday 9 to 2 hrs. before Sabbath Serving your Pre-arrangement needs. Call us directly for out-of-state arrangements. Phone (313) 546-4700 Brochure available , Serving The Jewish Community . Since 1960 Shiva, Fruit and Gourmet Baskets Candy and Nut Trays The 7a.tsket c2Shorpe • ‘Vorldwide Delivery • Credit Cards Accepted 545-0505 148 FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1991 —71111---11111 Heartfelt wishes sent with delicious gift baskets from .. . A TISKET A TASKET (313) 661,4789 Packaged and Delivered 7 Days a Week MONUMENT CE1Th aR INC. "Same Location 45 Years" • Monuments and Markers • Bronze Markers • Memorial Duplicating • Cemetery Lettering & Cleaning CEMETERY INSTALLATION ANYWHERE IN MICHIGAN Call 542-8266 FERNDALE 661 E. 8 MILE ROAD 1 1/2 Blocks East of Woodward New York — Rabbi Gerson D. Cohen, whose 13-year term as chancellor of the Jewish Theological Semi- nary of America was capped by the decision to ordain women rabbis, died Aug. 16. He was 67 and had been ill for some time. Dr. Cohen was the fifth person to head the Semi- nary, the spiritual and academic center of Conser- vative Judaism. He succeed- ed Rabbi Louis Finkelstein as chancellor in July 1972. Failing health forced him to step down on July 1, 1986. He was succeeded by Rabbi Ismar Schorsch. Dr. Cohen, who liked to describe himself as a "fortunate melamed" (re- ligious teacher), did not con- sider the 1984 decision to or- dain women the most significant achievement of his tenure. It was too con- troversial and divisive, he explained. Actually, Dr. Cohen was vehemently opposed to the move when it was first rais- ed in his sixth year at the Seminary's helm. "At that time [1978], I hoped the issue would be studied properly and defeated," he told an inter- viewer in 1985. "Religion is committed to tradition," he explained, "and we're committed to Halachah [Jewish law] and to those usages that have been so accepted as to carry halachic weight." Ordaining women, he believed at the time, violated that principle. But after appointing a commission and discussing principles "rather than cor- rect politics," Dr. Cohen later recalled, "I was con- verted to the moral rectitude and halachic validity for this change." From that point on, Dr. Cohen was an ardent sup- porter of the move and among the most vocal. Among the achievements Dr. Cohen did list among his successes was the building of the new Seminary library, which includes 270,000 vol- umes, 15,000 manuscripts and codices, 40,000 Genizah fragments, and thousands of rare documents and prints. Also among his successes were the establishment in Israel of the Bet Midrash-the Seminary of Judaic Studies and the bringing to the Seminary of a more youthful Rabbi Gerson Cohen and qualified American- trained faculty. But Dr. Cohen bemoaned the fact that serious Torah study was largely lost in America. "All of our adult education programs have so far failed to compensate for this loss. The most educa- tionally sophisticated Jew- ish community of all time is virtually illiterate in Judaism," he said. "The problem of teaching the elements of Judaism to doc- tors, lawyers and other pro- fessionals is one we have yet to solve." Born in New York City in 1924, Dr. Cohen was elected a Phi Beta Kappa while at the City College of New York, from which he graduated with special honors. In 1948, he was or- dained at the Seminary. He also held degrees of bachelor and master of Hebrew litera- ture from the Seminary. He received his doctorate in Semitic languages from Columbia University in 1958. After he stepped down as chancellor in mid-1986, Dr. Cohen continued to serve the institution as chancellor emeritus and as Jacob H. Schiff distinguished service professor of history. Dr. Cohen was a member of the President's Commis- sion on the Holocaust and a fellow of the American Academy for Jewish Resear- ch, as well as the former editor of its proceedings. He was a member of the board of directors and former chair- man of the publications committee of the Jewish Publication Society. Dr. Cohen is survived by his mother, Nechama; his wife, Naomi; son and daughter, Jeremy and Judy; seven grandchildren; a sister, Hadassah Gordis; a brother, Yehudi.