Updated with the reaction of the Cohen family
He was a key figure and appreciated by the French community in New York. Rabbi Mikhael Cohen died on Friday April 3. He was 58 years old.
Andrew Gross, director of the New Jersey-Israel Commission established by the New Jersey State Department, said in a tweet that his “friend”Had died of the Covid-19. His wife Esther confirmed this in an email to French Morning on Saturday. “For those who knew him, he was the paradigm of joy and positivity“, She wrote.
The rabbi was the president and founder, with his wife, of the French and Francophone Jewish Cultural Center of New York (CCF). Located in Midtown, this center serves as a meeting point for French-speaking Jews in the city. Each year, it welcomes between 4,000 and 5,000 tourists and locals around numerous events (courses, meals, celebrations) for the community.
A lover of the United States, Mikhael Cohen had become American in 1995. Born in Paris, he lived in Crown Heights, a district of Brooklyn where a large population of hublabad is established around the historic synagogue of 770 Eastern Parkway.
Esther Cohen said that “our association will remain at the service of the community after this pandemic is over, as my husband wished“.
The French Consulate in New York Anne-Claire Legendre announced her “immense sadness”On Twitter and welcomed a“pillar”Of the French community who presided“with generosity and charisma the CCF New York“.
A fundraising page has been launched on the GoFundMe platform to support the family of the rabbi, who is leaving eight children behind.
