By Deb Silverthorn
The gift of a Torah — the words of the Jewish People — will be shared beginning at 1 p.m., Sunday, March 8, at Congregation Nishmat Am. The gift, from Rosie and Rabbi Yitzchak Cohen, is a lasting expression of love, heritage and tradition.
“The Cohen Family Sefer Torah comes from us and now four generations to honor those before us,” said Rabbi Cohen, lovingly known for more than 55 years as Yitz. “My family was taken from me. I lost 35 first cousins along with my aunts, uncles and grandparents who were murdered. From being an only child, I am blessed with a fourth generation. It’s a miracle that we are here to pray, to sing, to laugh.
“For the community to participate by writing even one letter means that we are forever united,” he said. “This is a beautiful miracle.”
Born in Krakow, Poland, the son of Holocaust survivors Chana Malka and Rabbi Dov Cohen, both of blessed memory, Yitz moved with his parents to Israel in 1949. Discovered by renowned liturgical composer Shlomo Zalman Rivlin, founder and director of the Shirat Yisrael Institute for Cantors, Yitz performed in Israel and Europe before his bar mitzvah and was on stage in New York’s Yiddish theater circle at 16. At 17, he became the youngest cantor in the country to serve Congregation Ohev Shalom, Washington D.C.’s largest Orthodox congregation.
During the High Holy Days of 1968, he met the former Rosie Antebi. They married six months later.
The Cohen family includes daughter Hannah (David) Loev of Houston and their children Jordan and Marissa; daughter Sharona (Avi) Levi of Israel and her children Eden (Assaf) Osher, Gavriella Ashkenizy and Dov (Matan) Ashkenizy; and son Jacob (Lucine) Cohen of Dallas and his children Orly and Avi. Eden and Assaf Osher’s children, Rain and Sun, are the Cohens’ great-grandchildren.
“It’s such a privilege to watch our family and our community grow,” said Rosie, who, in addition to being a rebbetzin of measure, is founder of the Bikur Cholim Society/Ohr Hadash Jewish Healing Center, for which she continues to provide medical resources and support. “It’s always been important to be here for everyone and, seeing the joy and the connections that have lasted, is precious.”
The couple made Dallas home, first at Congregation Tiferet Israel, where he served first as cantor and then rabbi for 35 years. Since 2005, in Plano, they have founded and led Congregation Nishmat Am. In 2024, Yitz became rabbi emeritus and Rabbi David Barnett has since led from the bimah.
“Our world meaning and values come from the words on the Torah scrolls,” said Rabbi Barnett. “It’s the root of Western civilization and hope for world peace will come from people respecting the inherent and priceless dignity of every human being.”
“Rabbi Cohen established a role of integrity and respect from everyone he’s ever encountered, and the Cohens’ vision in creating Nishmat Am was to build a home for all Jews regardless of their path,” he said. “It remains my great honor to continue to carry that mission forward and this Torah dedication means an afternoon to celebrate that and to share and spread joy.”
The March 8 event is open to the greater community and will welcome Sofer Rabbi Moshe Klein’s return to Nishmat Am. This will be the third Torah he has completed for the congregation.
“The Cohens are special people and it’s my honor to return to finish this Torah for them, their family and the community,” said Rabbi Klein, who also recently reviewed and worked on the tefillin that Yitz’s father gifted him more than 60 years ago. Like Yitz, Klein came to the United States from Israel as a young man — bringing Yiddishkeit through sacred scrolls.
“I am a third generation sofer,” he said, “and I understand the respect and importance of the connections of our People and the commandment of writing the Torah.”
The Cohen Family Torah honors the Cohens’ generations past, present and future, IDF soldiers lost and their families, as well as victims of terror.
“Our years at Tiferet were incredible and beautiful, and we were filled with wonderful relationships and family — much of which continues all these years later,” he said. “When we started Nishmat Am, it was because we saw the young people moving to the suburbs and I wanted them to have more community.”
In Plano, supporters come to Shabbat services and other programs from near and far.
“Yitz is dear to so many, and Rosie is an absolute delight. This day and always we want to give the message to them, and to Hashem, that we appreciate and support them,” said Les Schachter, Nishmat Am’s board president. “The dedication of a Torah is a major moment in life, and our doors are open for all.”
At the March 8 celebration, the congregation’s four Torahs will come out to “welcome” the Cohen Family Torah, with music and dancing.
“It is the 613th commandment that ‘you shall write for yourself this song,’ and that ‘song’ is the Torah,” said Yitz. “Participating by donating a letter, a word or whatever, is as if one wrote the Torah themselves. Sharing in this sacred moment, in whatever way, eternalizes our People.”
A half black velvet, half knitted yarmulke embroidered with the words “Ani Ohev Kol Yehudi — I love all Jews” encapsulates what Yitz and Rosie have built and shared with those around them.
“Every Jew is a Jew. There is no you, me or them. Nishmat Am — the soul of the People,” he said. “It’s what I have always been about and what we will always hold on to. We are a special People, with a special soul.”
“Music has always been at the forefront of my life — that and prayer — and so the ‘song,’ the Torah, is precious to me. Torah, and our lives, are made of high notes and low notes,” Yitz said. “Like the Torah’s letters, when they stand alone, they don’t have meaning. Together, they are Hashem’s melody. As Jews, we must stand together — and in that, we bring harmony and create a divine melody.”
