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Uri Cohen Webcenter |
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My name is Uri Cohen, and welcome to my Web Center. The purpose of this website is to further the causes which are near and dear to my heart, and to facilitate networks, meet new friends and to find new ways to leverage the internet to do good things to improve the world in which we live. First, a little about me. I grew up in Queens, New York, attended the Bronx High School of Science, and then the University of Pennsylvania. I graduated from Penn in 2001, and have been living and working in Manhattan ever since. I am an Eagle Scout, and serve as an Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 613 in Queens, N.Y. I am a Vigil Honor member of the Order of the Arrow, and have been involved with the Sabbath-Observant ordeal at Camp Kunatah at the Ten Mile River Scout reservation for the past 11 years. I have completed Woodbadge Leadership Training and have served on staff, and look forward to a long career in volunteering through the Greater New York Councils and the Jewish Committee on Scouting. While at Penn, I was a Jewish Studies major, with a minor in Linguistics. I had the opportunity to work with many fabulous professors - most notably Dr. Jeffrey Tigay - who shaped my outlook and intellectual life through their extraordinary efforts and inspiration. I was a student leader at Penn Hillel, which enabled me to have formative and meaningful Jewish experiences which helped me to discover my strengths and weaknesses, the kind of community (Jewish and otherwise) in which I want to live, the role I want to play in that community, etc. More than 5 years removed from college, I look back on my college experiences, particularly at Hillel, as absolutely fundamental to where my life has gone since, both personally and professionally. Hillel served as the model for a program which I started with a number of friends back in 2004. I serve as President and founder of Tikvat Yisrael, and organization dedicated to bringing Jews from widely varying places on the Jewish spectrum together using dedication to prayer as the fundamental bond which unites Jews. While many people and institutions view prayer as the most divisive issue we face, I strongly submit that the only reason it's such a difficult issue is because it's the one to which we feel most strongly attached. Our feelings of connection to history, our parents and ancestors, and the values we want to teach our children are tied up deeply in connection to prayer, and this common focus and deep attachment should be viewed and can be used as the most important opportunity we have for Jewish unity going forward. An article which appeared in the March 26, 2004 edition of the New York Jewish Week resulted in an opportunity to come back to work for Hillel in a full-time capacity; this time for the Lynn and Charles Schusterman International Center - the international umbrella Hillel organization, in the New York office.
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As you may have noticed, my web presence is undergoing a major upgrade at this time. I have, over the years, created pages dedicated to these and other various interests (including patch trading, torah reading trope, R'nanah - the a capella group I sang with which has produced its own CD, which is still for sale), and I hope to upgrade these pages individually as well over the coming months. New networking features and blogs are on the way, so stay tuned!
This is a new era, so the counter is starting over.
And for those of you who are keeping score at home (and I know that you are...)
fret not, Plucky the mouse is here too - if he's not hiding...
Last updated: August 25, 2006