Rabbi Cohen was born in Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey of Sephardic Jewish parents. He served in the Turkish Army in 1917. When he was released in 1918 he returned to Istanbul and worked for the British Insurance Company. Later, he joined his uncle in Havana, where he became a rabbi. He was in Cuba during the Revolution in 1959, after which he came to Atlanta to be the rabbi of Or VeShalom, which at the time had a congregation of 50 to 60 families. As of 1976, the number of families was 300 families. Finding the Sephardim segregated from the rest of the Atlanta Jewish community, he encouraged intra-Jewish cooperation and intermarriage. As an early rabbi of Or VeShalom he recalls its growth and history.

Joseph I. Cohen (Rabbi) (1896 - 1981) - Oral History

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