The 7th Annual Rabbi Hillel Cohn Endowed Lecture on Contemporary Jewish Experience will feature Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove, who is described as “one of the most astute, knowledgeable and brilliant rabbis of our times” by Rabbi Hillel Cohn, the lecture’s namesake.

Cosgrove’s talk will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 26, and take place at Cal State San Bernardino’s Obershaw Dining Room, located in the Alumni Center. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Cohn posted on social media that Cosgrove is the “senior rabbi of the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City.” Cohn added, “I can assure you that it will be one of the most outstanding presentations you have ever heard.”

“We are honored to host a distinguished leader of the caliber of Rabbi Cosgrove as this year’s Rabbi Cohn Lecture speaker,” stated CSUSB President Tomás D. Morales. “In a time of much division and strife, bringing thoughtful voices to add to the conversation is more important than ever.”

He added, “Our diversity is our strength, both here at CSUSB and in the Inland Empire.”

Ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1999, Cosgrove earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His dissertation on Rabbi Louis Jacobs, a leading Anglo-Jewish theologian of the 20th century, reflects his passion for the intersection of Jewish scholarship and faith.

Cosgrove is the author of 15 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),” “Provisions for the Way (2018),” “Tree of Life (2019),” “Bring Them Close (2020),” “And the Bush Was Not Consumed (2021),” “An Outstretched Arm (2022),” and “A Mixed Multitude (2023).”

He is the editor of “Jewish Theology in Our Time: A New Generation Explores the Foundations and Future of Jewish Belief.” His essays and op-eds appear frequently in a variety of Jewish publications, including The Jewish Week and the Forward.

Cosgrove also serves the Conservative Movement, the Jewish community beyond PAS, and the community-at-large. He sits on the Chancellor's Cabinet of the Jewish Theological Seminary 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 Anti-Defamation League and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. 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.

Cosgrove was honored to represent the Jewish community at the National Sept. 11 Memorial Museum during the visit of Pope Francis to New York in September 2015.

The Rabbi Hillel Cohn Endowed Lecture on the Contemporary Jewish Experience was established at Cal State San Bernardino in 2017, in recognition of Cohn’s many achievements as a religious and community leader. It was the first time in the history of the entire California State University system that a rabbi has been so honored.

Cohn has been active in many community organizations in the San Bernardino area, including the Institutional Review Board at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center and the Diocesan Health Care Committee of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino. He was the founding chairperson of the City of San Bernardino Human Relations Commission.

Cohn also has produced and hosted “The Many Faces of San Bernardino: Dialogues on Diversity,” a regular half-hour program on KCSB (Channel 3). He was one of the founders of Inland Congregations United for Change and currently serves as a board member of The Community Foundation of Riverside and San Bernardino, Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties, The Unforgettables Foundation and The Brightest Star.

In 2014, Cohn was one of six inductees selected for the CSUSB College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Hall of Fame and was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters in 2017.

A native of Germany, Cohn was brought to the United States as an infant by his parents who were refugees from Nazism. Cohn grew up in the Pacific Northwest and Southern California and received a B.A. in political science from UCLA in 1959. He received rabbinical training at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles and Cincinnati, where he was ordained as a rabbi in 1963 and received a master’s degree. He earned a doctor of ministry degree from the Claremont School of Theology in 1984, specializing in ethics and communication. In 1988, he was awarded an honorary doctor of divinity degree by the Hebrew Union College.