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  1. Museum of Jewish Montreal
  2. Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Cohen

Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Cohen

collection1896-1950

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Held by
Museum of Jewish Montreal via Museum of Jewish Montreal — map of Jewish Montreal
Creator
Marian Pinksy
Dates
1896-1950 (indexed as 1896–1950)
Level
collection (source: Story)
Extent
6 places
Scope & content
A fixture of Montreal’s rabbinical leadership, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Cohen (1862–1950) was recognized as the unofficial Chief Rabbi of both Montreal and Canada. In a career spanning fifty years, Rabbi Cohen was involved in the “kosher meat” disputes as president of the Va'ad Ha-Rabbanim (Rabbinical Council) of the Va’ad Ha’Ir (Jewish Community Council), advocated for independent Jewish schools during the 1920s, and was a dedicated Zionist. His influence is undisputed, as his funeral in 1950 attracted one of the largest gatherings of rabbinical and political leaders in Montreal’s history. Born in Budwicz, Lithuania in 1862, Zvi Hirsch Cohen was home-educated before entering the Volozhin Yeshiva. There he studied Talmud and became well-versed in Modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature. These assets would solidify his valued status in largely immigrant Montreal. In 1889, Rabbi Cohen arrived in Montreal, following his brother, Lazarus, who had quickly established himself as a successful entrepreneur and pillar of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim. (Lazarus’s son, Lyon Cohen, would become an important community and business leader himself.) Lacking his brother’s business skills, Rabbi Cohen moved to Chicago where he was trained in the kosher meat industry. Returning in 1896, he began his rabbinical career, and set about resolving intra-communal tensions relating to kosher slaughter. Rabbi Cohen led the Montreal Board of Kashrut in 1908, created to oppose the efforts of Rabbi Simon Glazer, and founded the Va'ad Ha-Rabbanim of the Va'ad Ha-'Ir in 1922, presiding as its president until his death. With the support of Hirsch Wolofsky, editor of the Keneder Adler (Montreal’s main Yiddish newspaper) and main founder of the Va’ad Ha-‘Ir, Rabbi Cohen retained his status as unofficial ‘Chief Rabbi’ against contending Rabbis Glazer and Yudel Rosenberg. Rabbi Cohen established his reputation as spiritual leader in the shadow of his predecessor, Rabbi Aaron Mordecai Ashinsky. Upon Ashinsky’s move to Pittsburgh, Cohen filled the void in rabbinical leadership, becoming superintendent of the Talmud Torah schools, and supplanting contender Rabbi Solomon Beir Sprince as Jewish prison chaplain. Rabbi Cohen’s popularity was due to his efforts to reconcile differences between the established Jewish “uptowner” elite and their Yiddish-speaking “downtowner” working-class counterparts. While his Yiddish and European roots appealed to “downtowners,” his family connections to the Shaar Hashomayim tied him to the West End “uptowners.” A gifted orator, Rabbi Cohen was in demand in Montreal congregations and in other communities, with many of his sermons being printed in the Keneder Adler. His involvement in communal life ranged from the Central War Sufferers Relief Society during World War I for Jews in Europe and Palestine, to the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society, and the Mizrachi movement for Orthodox Zionists. He served as president of the Montreal Council of Orthodox Rabbis and was an executive member of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies. His nephew, Lyon Cohen, mentioned above, was grandfather to poet and singer Leonard Cohen. Compiled by Marian Pinksy Sources: Azrieli, David J., Joe King, and Gil Troy. Rekindling the Torch: the Story of Canadian Zionism. Toronto: Key Porter, 2008. Gutwirth, Jacques. "Hassidim Et Judaïcite à Montreal." Recherches Sociographiques 14 (1973): 291-325. Lapidus, Steven. "'Maggid of Montreal': Rabbi Hirsch Cohen on the Dilemmas of the Canadian Rabbi." Jewish History 23 (2009): 179-93. Lapidus, Steven. "The Forgotten Hassidim : Rabbis and Rebbes in Post-war Canada." Canadian Jewish Studies 12 (2004):1-30. Robinson, Ira. "‘Pa Is a Mussolini': A Portrait of Rabbi Hirsh Cohen." Rabbis and Their Community: Studies in the Eastern European Orthodox Rabbinate in Montreal, 1896-1930. Calgary: University of Calgary, 2007. 21-34. Robinson, Ira. "The First Hasidic Rabbis in North America." American Jewish Archives 44 (1992): 501-15. Rome, David. On the Jewish School Question in Montreal, 1903-1931. Montreal: National Archives, Canadian Jewish Congress, 1975. Rome, David. The Heroes of Montreal Jewish Education. Montreal, Canada: National Archives, Canadian Jewish Congress, 1992. Shaffir, William. "Chassidic Communities in Montreal." The Canadian Jewish Mosaic. Morton Weinfeld, Irwin Cotler, and William Shaffir ed. Toronto: John Wiley & Sons, 1981. 273-85. Shaffir, William. "Separation from the Mainstream in Canada: The Hassidic Community of Tash." Jewish Journal of Sociology 29 (1987): 19-35. Tulchinsky, Gerald. Branching Out: the Transformation of the Canadian Jewish Community. Toronto: Stoddart, 1998. *Images courtesy of Canadian Jewish Congress Charities Committee National Archives and Jewish Public Library - Archives.
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Subjects
Religious
Language
English
Harvested
2026-10-17T06:33:33Z · source datestamp n/a · mjm
Original metadata as harvested (mjm)