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Alan L. Cohen Papers

 Collection
Identifier: P-973

Scope and Content Note

The collection contains 203 photographs taken by Rabbi Alan Cohen during his 1989 trip to Moscow, Leningrad, and Riga, including photographs of a protest demonstration that a group of Refuseniks organized in front of the Moscow Kremlin. Also included are three videocassettes recordings made by Rabbi Cohen during his trips to the Former Soviet Union in 1989 and 1993.

The collection consists of one manuscript box.

Dates

  • Creation: 1989, 1993

Creator

Access Restrictions

The collection is open to all researchers, except items that may be restricted due to their fragility, or privacy.

Use Restrictions

No permission is required to quote, reproduce or otherwise publish manuscript materials found in this collection, as long as the usage is scholarly, educational, and non-commercial. For inquiries about other usage, please contact the Director of Collections and Engagement at mmeyers@ajhs.org.

For reference questions, please email: inquiries@cjh.org

Historical Note

The Papers of Rabbi Alan L. Cohen represent one collection housed within the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement (AASJM). These papers reflect the effort, beginning in the 1960s through the late 1980s, of thousands of American Jews of all denominations and political orientations to stop the persecution and discrimination of Jews in the Soviet Union. The American Soviet Jewry Movement (ASJM) is considered to be the most influential Movement of the American Jewish community in the 20th century. The beginnings of the organized American Soviet Jewry Movement became a model for efforts to aid Soviet Jews in other countries, among them Great Britain, Canada, and France. The movement can be traced to the early 1960s, when the first organizations were created to address the specific problem of the persecution and isolation of Soviet Jews by the government of the Soviet Union.

Alan Cohen's rabbinic career spanned nearly four decades of congregational work. For nineteen years, he was the Rabbi for Congregation Beth Shalom (Kansas City, Missouri) and also worked in the non-profit sector of Jewish communal service as the director of Interreligious Affairs of the Jewish Community Relations Bureau of the American Jewish Committee, a position in which he developed partnering opportunities with clergy of many faiths.

Alan Cohen took two trips to the Former Soviet Union. On the first trip that occurred in April of 1989, Rabbi Cohen and his colleague from South Florida, Rabbi Ed Farber, visited Moscow, Leningrad, and Riga. The rabbis met with many Refuseniks and brought them a number of religious items. They attended a protest demonstration that a group of Refuseniks organized in front of the Moscow Kremlin. In 1993, Rabbi Cohen returned to Russia with a UJA Rabbinic Cabinet Mission.

Extent

1 Manuscript Boxes (1/2 linear foot)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The collection contains photographs and video recordings taken by Kansas City, Missouri rabbi, Alan L. Cohen, during his trips to visit the Jewish Communities in the Former Soviet Union in 1989 and 1993. Included in Rabbi Cohen’s papers are photographs of a protest demonstration organized by Refuseniks in front of the Moscow Kremlin in 1989.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into a single series.

Physical Location

Located in AJHS New York, NY

Acquisition Information

Donated by Rabbi Alan L. Cohen in 2010.

Digitization Note

In 2014-2015, folders 1-7 were digitized in their entirety with the exception of duplicates. All videocassettes were digitized and made fully accessible in 2016-2017.

Related Material

The Papers of Alan L. Cohen is one individual collection within the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement (AASJM) located at the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS). Other Soviet Jewry Movement collections at AJHS include the records of Action for Soviet Jewry (I-487), the National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ; I-181 and I-181A), the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (I-410, I-410A), Houston Action for Soviet Jewry (I-500), Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews (I-505), Seattle Action for Soviet Jewry (I-507), The Jewish Chronicle Soviet Jewry Collection (I-523), B'nai B'rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum Soviet Jewry Movement Collection (I-529), Chicago Action for Soviet Jewry (I-530), Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism (I-538), United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (I-543), Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans (I-547), Jewish Defense League (I-374) the papers of Joel Ackerman (P-787), Julia Mates Cheney (P-806), Jerry Goodman (P-863), Laurel and Alan J. Gould (P-866), Carolyn W. Sanger (P-870), Leah Lieberman (P-869), Si Frumkin (P-871), Elaine Pittell (P-873), Sanford A. Gradinger (P-880), Shaul Osadchey (P-882), Leonard S. Cahan (P-883), Doris H. Goldstein (P-887), David H. Hill (P-888), Margery Sanford (P-889), Pinchas Mordechai Teitz (P-891), David Waksberg (P-895), Pamela B. Cohen (P-897), Moshe Decter (P-899), William Korey (P-903), Morey Schapira (P-906), Charlotte Gerper Turner (P-907), Myrtle Sitowitz (P-908), Kathleen M. Hyman (P-911), Babette Wampold (P-912), Rabbi David Goldstein and Shannie Goldstein (P-918), Leslie Schaffer (P-923), Arthur Bernstein (P-925), Dolores Wilkenfeld (P-927), Sylvia Weinberg (P-928) , Irwin H. Krasna (P-934) , Constance S. Kreshtool (P-935), Betty Golomb (P-938), Grace Perlbinder (P-942), Mort Yadin (P-943), Ann Polunsky (P-886), Lillian Foreman (P-945), Marilyn Labendz(P-946), Abraham Silverstein(P-947), Bert Silver (P-949), Billie Kozolchyk (P-950), John Steinbruck (P-951), Lawrence I. Lerner (P-952), Ruth Geller Gold (P-953), Efry Spectre (P-954), Alan M. Kohn (P-956), Frank Brodsky (P-957), Victor Borden (P-959), Estelle Newman (P-960), Carol S. Kekst (P-961), Linda Rutta (P-965), Rachel Braun (P-967), Jack Forgash (P-968), Michael Greene (P-969), Judith A. Manelis (P-970), Fred Greene (P-971) and Harry Lerner (P-972).

Additional materials from other collections include records dealing with the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ) located within the North American Jewish Students Appeal (NAJSA, I-338) and the records of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (NJCRAC, I-172). Related records are also located at the AJHS in Newton Centre, MA including memorabilia and ephemera of the New England Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (I-237) and the Records of the Student Coalition for Soviet Jewry – Brandeis University (I-493).

Title
Guide to the Alan L. Cohen Papers, 1989, 1993 *P-973
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Andrey Filimonov
Date
© 2013
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is in English.
Sponsor
Digitization of photographs in the Papers of Alan L. Cohen (P-973) was made possible through a generous grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). Digitization of videocassettes was made possible through the generous support of the Blavatnik Foundation.

Revision Statements

  • May 2015: dao links added by Eric Fritzler.
  • July 2017: dao links for video added, filename simplified, digitization note added, sponsor statement updated by Leanora Lange.
  • November 2020: RJohnstone: post-ASpace migration cleanup.

Repository Details

Part of the American Jewish Historical Society Repository

Contact:
15 West 16th Street
New York NY 10011 United States