NEW YORK, N.Y. – In its new initiative to reach out to Jewish communities across various regions throughout the United States, the Orthodox Union’s Department of Community and Synagogue Services has announced the appointment of Rabbi Dovid Cohen of West Hempstead, N.Y. as regional director for Connecticut, New York City, Westchester and the Bronx and Connecticut.

“Rabbi Cohen brings a gravitas and depth to the position that will no doubt be well-respected by the community at large as well as by our OU community,” said Rabbi Judah Isaacs, director of the OU’s Department of Community and Synagogue Services. “His work will also enhance the crucial role of the shul as the gateway to the broad range of OU programs and services. And we are certain that by being our ‘man on the ground,’ Rabbi Cohen will be able to forge robust relationships with the Jewish communities in the  region.”

Cohen, who served as spiritual leader of the Young Israel of the West Side for nine years, received his B.A. from Yeshiva University (YU) in 1994, graduating with honors in history, and his rabbinic ordination from YU’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in 1997. A 1999 graduate of Columbia University Law School, he is a member of the New York Bar. In 2007, he was awarded an M.S. in counseling, with a concentration in family therapy, from the University of North Texas.

Cohen has served on the national board of Yachad, the OU’s flagship program of the National Jewish Council for Disabilities (NJCD). He was also a member of the executive committee of the Rabbinical Council of America, which provides numerous services for rabbis and their communities, and served as a rabbinical judge on the Beth Din of America. His first book, We’re Almost There: Living With Patience, Perseverance and Purpose, will soon be published by Mosaica Press.

He is married to Ruchi (Eisenberg) Cohen, daughter of the chief rabbi of Vienna and a pediatric intensive care unit nurse at the New York University Langone Medical Center. The couple are parents of four children.

“I plan to spend time in the region’s shuls and hope to serve as a scholar in residence approximately once a month on Shabbat in the various shuls of the region, as well as delivering weeknight lectures and regional programming,” he said. “I also look forward to using tools of social media to connect more effectively with our constituents, as well as establishing leadership ‘lunch ‘n learns.’ Our goal is to engage synagogues and communities on an entirely new level. The OU is a vast enterprise touching every segment of Jewish life.”

CAP: Rabbi Dovid Cohen