In Memory of Rav Yaakov Simcha Cohen z"l

The late Rav Yaakov Simcha Cohen z"l was an occasional contributor to NishmaBlog, and a most frequent contributor to the Jewish Press. He recently was Niftar, and left a void amongst those who knew him, even those who knew him casually.

Rav Dov Fischer, who is also a Nishmblog contributor wrote a moving eulogy of our Chaveir, and we are presenting it here to honor R Cohen's Memory.

* * * * *

In Memory of Rav Yaakov Simcha Cohen z"l

"With so much going on — in the Mideast, etc. — I didn't have a chance to post until now that I recently lost a very dear and deep, inspirational friend and personal mentor, ever-so-recently.  And then I thought: As among those of us who have enriched the RCA, few among us have enriched it with as much pure Torah and just-pure Halakhic discussion as did Rav Jacob Simcha Cohen zikhrono livrakha.

When I was a young fellow in my mid-thirties, just beginning my rabbonus in Los Angeles back in the late 1980s, it was Rav Cohen who urged me to write and encouraged me to pursue my writing and to publish as often as possible on inyanei d'yoma.  Back then, only five years out of Smikha at RIETS, I was the new kid on the block in Los Angeles when I arrived in 1987, and — from outta nowhere — I became a weekly fixture in the Jewish Journal, the L.A. equivalent in tone and substance to the New York Jewish Week, and a regular contributor to the op-ed page of the Los Angeles Times.  Indeed, the L.A. Times ultimately did a feature a story on me and my writings. -
 http://articles.latimes.com/1989-11-09/news/vw-1284_1_orthodox-jews
The response to my writings then was not unlike what it is now (v'ha-mayven yavin).  In short order, I wondered whether I should just step aside because one or two rabbinical colleagues were resenting the publicity being directed my way, and I just didn't have time for the pain.  During that critical formative period in my career, two rabbonim came into my life and encouraged me to write and publish, and to continue writing and publishing, and not to hold back — Rav Cohen and, yibadel l'chaim, Rav Abner Weiss.

Rav Cohen z"l became a mentor for me and to me, even as we also became friends over the years while always honoring the mentor-protégée relationship.  I also would consult with him often on piskei halakhah. After he moved to Florida, I lost touch with him, but then we reconnected off-line, prompted by writings posted on this Forum.  During the past four years, or so, we conducted an ongoing private conversation offline, and he always encouraged me, even as he always taught me more and more.

Rav Yaakov Simcha Cohen z"l also was one of the sweetest guys I ever met.  I still remember the first time he and I ever met, as he pressed me to start attending Rabbinical Council of California meetings — "C'mon, Dov.  Get out of the Valley for an afternoon, and meet the boys!"  — and he was one of the greatest Torah scholars I knew outside the classic world of roshei yeshiva.  He was a tremendous tzaddik of a person — and those of us who knew him, well or even indirectly, will nod in agreement.  So I write now with the hope that others who have benefited from knowing Rav Yaakov Simcha might find a few moments to remember him on this Forum, a Forum that he so uniquely enriched for so many of us for so many years.

— Dov Fischer


Kol Tuv,
RRW