Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, spiritual leader of New York's Park Avenue Synagogue, discusses the life and legacy of his teacher, the late Rabbi Louis Jacobs, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rabbi Jacobs.
Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove, PhD, has served as the Spiritual Leader of Park Avenue Synagogue in New York since 2008.
Ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1999, Rabbi Cosgrove earned his PhD at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His dissertation, Teyku: The Insoluble Contradictions in the Life and Thought of Louis Jacobs examines the life and legacy of one of the leading Anglo-Jewish theologians of the 20th century and reflects his own passion for the intersection of Jewish scholarship and faith.
Rabbi Cosgrove is the author of ten collections of selected sermons, In the Beginning (2009), An Everlasting Covenant (2010), Go Forth! (2011), Hineni (2012), A Place to Lodge (2013), Living Waters (2014), Stairway to Heaven (2015), Rise Up! (2016), A Coat of Many Colors (2017), and Provisions for the Way (2018). He is the editor of Jewish Theology in Our Time: A New Generation Explores the Foundations and Future of Jewish Belief, hailed as a provocative and inspiring collection of essays by leading rabbis and scholars.
Rabbi Cosgrove is a recognized leader in Conservative Judaism, the broader Jewish community, and the community-at-large. He sits on the Chancellor's Cabinet of JTS and on the Editorial Board of Conservative Judaism. A member of the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Assembly, he is also an officer of the New York Board of Rabbis and a member of the Board of UJA-Federation of New York. He serves as Rabbinical Advisor on Interfaith Affairs for the ADL and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Rabbi Cosgrove also serves on the Board of Trustees of Hillel at the University of Michigan and on the National Board of Governors of Hillel at the University of Pennsylvania.
Rabbi Cosgrove was honored to represent the Jewish community at the National September 11 Memorial Museum during the visit of Pope Francis to New York in September 2015.
Rabbi Louis Jacobs was born July 17, 1920.
An overview of his illustrious life can be found in Rabbi Louis Jacobs' New York Times Obituary by Ari L. Goldman, July 9, 2006.
Another recent overview of his biography and scholarship, that draws on Rabbi Cosgrove’s dissertation, is: “Louis Jacobs: We Have Reason to Believe,” by Prof.Marc Zvi Brettler,Prof.Edward Breuer in TheTorah.com.
The website louisjacobs.org makes available resources pertaining to the life and work of Rabbi Jacobs including an extensive archive of essays, articles and videos.
The clip featured in the podcast is taken from this video retrospective in which Rabbi Jacobs surveys the nearly 50 books he wrote.
Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove delivered a lecture on Rabbi Jacobs at Oxford in 2010.
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