Rabbi Cohn was born in London and was educated at the Menorah Primary School and at the Hasmonean Grammar School where he gained ‘A’ Levels in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. He then went on to Yeshivat Kol Torah where he studied for three years and where he came under the influence of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Aurerbach zt”l. This contact was to last for many years, even after Rabbi Cohn left the Yeshiva, until the death of HaRav Shlomo Zalman in 1995. Rabbi Cohn then took up a place in Imperial College to study Computer Science where he gained a BSc Honours Degree. By this time Rabbi Cohn had already been very involved in the SEED programme and had given the GGBH (‘Munks’) Gemorah Shiur for teenagers on Shabbos afternoons.

Shortly after completing his finals, Rabbi Cohn married his wife Soro (née Roberts - a niece of Rabbi Roberts of the Hendon Adath). The Cohns took up residence in Yerushalayim in 1989 and Rabbi Cohn joined the Yeshivat Ma’alos Hatorah, to commence his studies for Semicha, under the Rosh Yeshivah Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach. Having commenced doing Semicha under Rabbi Ephraim Kirschenbaum, Rabbi Cohn joined his Kollel in 1992 where he commenced an intensive study of various sections of the Shulchan Aruch under Rav Kirschenbaum and later under Dayan Zvi Weber of Kiryat Kamenitz in Neve Ya’acov, and Rav Nissim Karelitz, Av Beis Din of Bene Berak. Rabbi Cohn has done Shimush under Rav Karelitz and also at the Rabbinical Council of Jerusalem. Rabbi Cohn has also gained experience in answering Sha’alos from various sources and in numerous subjects and he has also been actively involved in the Kehilas Ashkenaz in Har Nof.

Mrs Cohn, who originates from Manchester, is a graduate of the Gateshead Seminary and was a primary school teacher prior to her marriage, as well as a teacher at the Whitefield Synagogue Cheder and a SEED tutor. Both Mrs Cohn and her husband are involved in the teaching of Halochos to engaged couples in which both have the necessary training and experience.

Many members will know Rabbi Cohn’s mother Dr Ann Cohn, a frequent contributor to many journals including the Jewish Tribune and Hamodia, and will remember his grandparents Dayan Dr Isidor Grunfeld who served for many years on the London Beis Din and Dr Judith Grunfeld one of the stalwarts of the pre-war Beth Jacob movement, and the unforgettable headteacher of the Jewish Secondary School during the war and later of the Avigdor Primary School.

Rabbi Cohn can be contacted on 020 8202 7838