Michael Cohen, Temple President

Michael Cohen has been a member of the Santa Monica Synagogue over a decade.  He has served on the Board since 2001, including four years as Treasurer and two years as Vice-President.  He is a charter member of the L’Chayim (wine tasting) Club and our reigning Scrabble champion.

Michael grew up in Fresh Meadows, New York.  He graduated from MIT with a degree in Economics and from Boalt Hall (UC Berkeley) School of Law.  Michael began his legal career with a five year stint as an IRS attorney and has practiced tax law for the last 20 years with a law firm in Westwood.  Michael has been actively involved in local youth sports programs, coaching teams in soccer, softball and basketball.

He lives in Santa Monica with his wife, Valerie Durbin, who grew up in Santa Monica.  They have two children, Lianna, a student at Santa Monica High School, and Matthew, who attends Haverford College in Pennsylvania.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT:

When we first joined this congregation almost 11 years ago, my wife and I had no plan for “us” to get involved in “their” social activities, let alone “their” leadership.  Our objective, as is often the case with our new members, was to get our kids to develop some familiarity with their Jewish heritage so that they would eventually have B’nai Mitzvahs.  Almost immediately, we were besieged by invitations for “us” to join “them” at unfamiliar events:  Tashlich on the beach, the progressive dinner, Breakfast with the rabbi, and so on.  Initially, we resisted these invitations, passed on some of them and attended others only with trepidation about whether the events “they” were having were really for “us.” 

As time went by, we met more and more members of the congregation, a number of whom became our friends, and after a year or maybe two, a funny thing happened:  instead of the temple being “they,” the temple became “us.”  Once that change in our thinking took place, it was only natural that we started to get involved as room parents, committee members and, in my case, eventually as a Board member.  So, when the Rabbi asked me if I would be willing to assume the role of president, I viewed it as an opportunity to lead a group of which I felt myself to be an integral part, almost as a team captain for a team that I’ve been playing on for years.

Looking forward to the next two years, my goal is to develop in all members of our congregation the sense that the temple is “us” not “them.”  The benefits of instilling this sense of ownership are both tangible—more generous financial contributions, more consistent retention of membership, greater participation in committee activities—and intangible—it’s simply more fun to spend time with people that you feel are part of a group that you belong to. 

Michael Cohen
President
The Santa Monica Synagogue