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Akiva middle school students learn with Rabbi Tzvi Klugerman.

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Akiva honors the late Rabbi Eliezer Cohen
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34 October 15 •2015

2098.1,,

ore than 350 Akiva Hebrew
Day School students, alum-
ni and friends joined a
worldwide learning event Sept. 9 honor-
ing the second yahrtzeit of Rabbi Eliezer
Cohen, beloved teacher, rabbi and friend.
The memorial learning program
united multi-generational Akiva alumni,
local Detroit community members and
friends of Akiva across the globe. A
virtual forum with suggested learning
and interactive discussion boards was
available for alumni unable to attend one
of the four events in person. The Sept.
9 memorial was Akiva!s largest alumni
event of the year, attracting partici-
pants at two locations in Detroit and in
Manhattan, Teaneck, N.J., and Jerusalem.
The opening event was at Akiva in
Southfield and united students and
faculty in grades 6-12 with local alumni
and members of Rabbi Cohen's fam-
ily. Speakers, including student Noah
Adler, shared insights into Rabbi Cohen's
unique, yet deeply influential teaching
methods. Adler relayed the rabbi's insis-
tence that his students "find their own
connections or understandings to the
material presented:'
That evening, a second Detroit crowd
gathered at the Young Israel of Oak
Park, where Akiva alumni joined others
to pay tribute to Rabbi Cohen. A video
highlighted his influential guidance and
unwavering devotion to his students,
clearly demonstrated by his "incredible
faith in the younger generation:' as stated
by his wife, Aviva Cohen.
Opening remarks were made by Rabbi
Michael Cohen of YIOP and Rabbi
Azaryah Cohen, the rabbi's son. Akiva
alumna, Jill Kleid, class of 1995, spoke
of the rabbi's gift for touching students
with varying capabilities; and then Joey
Selesny, class of 1990, initiated the eve-

ning's learning with a dictionary in one
hand and a Gemara (Talmud) in the
other — just as Rabbi Cohen instructed
him two decades prior.
Close to 100 participants learned
chavruta-style in the rabbi's honor
including Marilyn Finkelman's Talmud
class from Ohr Chadash, Rabbi Cohen's
Oak Park congregation.
Along with memorial learning events
in Manhattan and Teaneck, 16 of the 20
graduates from Aldva's class of 2015 met
at Beit Avi Chai in Jerusalem, along with
other Akiva friends and alumni, to join
in the worldwide learning effort.
"Seeing Rabbi Cohen's students from
40 years ago sitting together with my
graduating class, learning Torah in
Rabbi's way was empowering; said Cobi
Nadel, class of 2015.
According to Akiva leaders, this
worldwide gathering showcased Akiva
alumni at their best, pausing their
careers, family lives, influences in out-
side society to pay homage to their roots,
their upbringing, their teacher, their
foundation — living a Torah life.
The school hopes to continue its tradi-
tion in honoring Rabbi Eliezer Cohen on
his annual yarhtzeit and uniting Akiva
alumni around the world for similar sig-
nificant occasions. *

Rabbi Eliezer Cohen with students

in 1991