Rabbi Cohn was born in Hungary in 1862 in Hungary and was brought up in orthodox Judaism. As a child he avoided Gentiles completely, as the religious customs of his countrymen were abhorrent to him. Tragically, Leopold was orphaned at the young age of seven and had to learn to take care of himself. He found rest in God and prayed devoutly that God would teach him his ways. At the age of thirteen he determined to become a rabbi.
By the age of eighteen Leopold was found to be proficient in Talmudic law and received "smicha" to become a rabbi. Life shone upon him, and he made an excellent match for a yeshiva student: the youngest daughter of a wealthy man who took on himself to support the young couple and provide a home for them. Here again tragedy struck after a brief joyous period - a year after their marriage Leopold's father in law died.
Nevertheless, Leopold became well known in his area. Out of respect for his former teacher, who lived in the vicinity, he did not discuss religious questions until several years later when the latter died. But eventually he became renowned for his Talmudic learning and his wisdom in settling conflicts and controversies. During this time Leopold began to study about the Messiah. According to what he read in the Talmud, the Messiah should come at the final six thousand years of creation. In the book of Daniel he discovered that the prophet had prophesied the coming of Messiah in four hundred years (chapter 9). He wondered why the Messiah had not come at that time?
As Leopold himself wrote many years later:
"I could find no rest or peace for my troubled soul. I asked a good many other rabbis about the Messiah and how they reconciled certain passages of the Talmud with the Word of God, but I received no satisfactory answer. A little later, I was preaching, at that season, on a subject connected with the "Feast of Dedication". I had not intended to tell anything publicly of what was so deep in my heart because of fear of persecution, but God, who causes the dumb to speak, opened my mouth, and I revealed unto them all my discoveries. Probably they would have believed the discovery about the Messiah, since we were all ignorant of the fact that such a disclosure related to the Crucified One, but when they heard me finding so much fault with the Holy Talmud, that was quite enough to make them hiss and wag their heads at me, and finally to leave me quite alone, preaching to the empty benches. Bitter persecution followed.
I went to a distant town and consulted a noted rabbi, who looked at me in surprise and seemed to grasp the situation. I think he knew something about the Lord Jesus and his claims and did not want to discuss the matter, saying that if he thought and talked about the subject of the Messiah he would be discharged from his position. "But", said he, "my advice is that you go to America. There you will meet plenty of people who will tell you more about the Messiah" (To an Ancient People, p. 9-10).
Thus it was that a short time later, just 12 years after his marriage, Leopold found himself in New York at Passover time. Shortly after his arrival he came across a Messianic church where a Hebrew sign announced "Meetings for Jews'. Driven by curiosity he stepped inside, but was quite horrified by what he saw. No one wore a kippa! What a sin it was to this religious Jew, that a man should pray to God with his head uncovered! He fled the place, but not before the janitor managed to speak to him and give him the address of the preacher, who was none other than Jacob Freshman, the son of a rabbi who had come to faith in Canada many years earlier! He won Leopold's confidence and love immediately, by virtue of his Talmudic learning and family heritage and gave him a New Testament to read. Leopold writes of his first encounter with the writings of the Gospel:
"My feelings could not be described! For manyyears my thoughts had been occupied almost continually with the coming of the Messiah. For that reason I had suffered and left my wife and children for a strange country, which I never expected to visit. I had inquired of several rabbis, searched the Scriptures, prayed and thought; my whole being was wrapped up in this one subject. And now at last here was a book that would tell me about the Messiah. "Surely", I thought, "this book has come to me directly from above. God has sent it to me, and it will give all the desired information and lead me to the Messiah"....I forgot all about my troubles and became very happy, and running as fast as I could to my private room, the doors of which I locked behind me, sat down to study that book. I began reading at eleven o'clock in the morning, and continued until one o'clock after midnight. I could not understand the contents of the whole book, but I could at least realise that the Messiah's name was Yeshua, that he was born in Bethlehem, that he had lived in Jerusalem and talked to my people, that he came just about the time indicated by the angel's message to Daniel. My joy was unbounded." (To an Ancient People p. 12-13).
This was the beginning of a wonderful tale of God's victory in Leopold's life. His autobiography recounts how it was that the Lord made himself known to him and dispersed all his doubts. He knew that despite the miserable imitation of Christianity he had seen in Europe and amongs those who call themselves by Christ's name, if Jesus of Nazareth was the one the Scriptures proclaimed than he had no choice but to love him and serve him. He was convinced that once his fellow Jews accepted and believed in their Messiah, they would gain favour in the sight of God.His first efforts at convincing other Jews of this encountered bitter hostility and for a long while he was cut off from his wife and children, who had stayed with relatives in Hungary. The persecution increased so much that he was obliged to flee to Scotland, where he was baptised. Eventually, his loving wife joined him in Scotland with their four children - an adventure in itself as she was obliged to flee well meaning relatives who did all possible to dissolve her marriage and keep her from someone they perceived to be a traitor and madman. Leopold Cohn had the joy of eventually seeing his wife embrace her Messiah, and join him in ministry.
The family returned to New York, where Leopold developed a work that grew to reach across the United States, Poland, Germany, France, Latvia and Israel. This ministry is now called "Chosen People Ministries" and continues in the tradition of Rabbi Cohn.
Dr Cohn was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity by Wheaton College in 1930.
Sources
Ariel, Yaakov. Evangelizing the Chosen People, (University of N. Carolina, 2000)
Bacon, Colonel Alexander S. "The Strange Story of Dr. Cohn and Mr. Joszovics", published in New York, 1918
Cohn, Leopold. To an Ancient People: The Autobiography of Dr. Leopold Cohn. (Charlotte, NC; North York, Ontario: Chosen People Ministries, 1996)
Glaser, Mitch. "Whatever Happened to the American Board of Missions to the Jews? [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.chosen-people.com/docs/GB/Resources/Publications/Nov98NL/ "Rabbis Who Believed in Jesus: Rabbi Leopold Cohn, DD." Available at: http://www.shalom.org.uk/Rabbis/cohn.htm
