A suspension preventing a longtime Tucson rabbi from doing rabbinic work has been lifted.
In September, Rabbi Samuel Cohon, the former senior rabbi at Temple Emanu-El, was forced to step down after roughly 18 years with the congregation.
Cohonโs resignation followed a suspension by the Central Conference of American Rabbis and a request from the templeโs board. Cohon appealed the national conferenceโs decision and appeared before its Board of Appeals in January.
On Feb. 16, the groupโs board announced its decision to lift the suspension. It instead censured Cohon, requiring him to โcontinue in a regular course of psychoanalytic therapyโ and work with โan appointed rehabilitation and counseling team,โ according to the decision released by the Board of Appeals.
โThe BOA finds that substantial fairness requires Censure rather than Suspension in this case,โ the decision said.
The Board of Appeals did affirm Cohonโs violation of the โpersonal responsibilityโ and โsexual boundariesโ sections of the CCAR Code of Ethics, said Rabbi Steven A. Fox, the conferenceโs chief executive officer, in a prepared statement.
โAs a Censured rabbi, Rabbi Cohon remains subject to the Tโshuvah, rehabilitation and counseling process, along with the oversight of the Ethics Committee and a Tโshuvah, Rehabilitation and Counseling team,โ he said. Tโshuvah is an idea similar to repentance or returning.
Although he can again work as a congregational rabbi, Cohon said he "canโt speak for what Temple Emanu-El chooses to do.โ
Following the decision, the templeโs board president, Mona Gibson, emailed the congregation with the announcement, acknowledging the removal of the suspension.
โHowever, he is no longer employed by Temple Emanu-El,โ the letter said. โThe CCARโs BOA decision does not change the current course of the congregation. Going forward from this point, our Temple Transition Think Tank will continue to work on developing recommendations for our Board of Directors regarding the congregationโs future and organizational structure.โ
In an email to the Star, Gibson wrote that temple leadership anticipates a time to โreceive and review input and the recommendations from our membership.โ
Rabbi Batsheva Appel, the rabbi educator at Temple Emanu-El, has stepped into the primary leadership position.
โThe backstory is that there were some personal issues involved, and I was going through a divorce that started in April,โ Cohon told the Star in October. โAll divorces are difficult. It led the board to determine that they felt that I should no longer be the senior rabbi.โ
The decision by the Board of Appeals means that Cohon can resume his work as a rabbi within Reform Judaism, he said, even if thatโs not with Temple Emanu-El.
โIโm really grateful that the suspension is removed and I have the opportunity to work as a rabbi,โ Cohon said.
โIt has been my career for 22, 23 years, and Iโm grateful that I can do life-cycle events and visit hospitals and lead services and teach and do everything I was trained to do.
โI donโt have specific plans right now, but Iโm in the process of seeing what my options are.โ
