H eadlines
David L. Cohen Nominated Ambassador to Canada
L OCA L
SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
announced plans on July 21
to nominate David L. Cohen,
former vice chairman of the
board of the Jewish Federation
of Greater Philadelphia and a
Comcast executive, to serve as
the United States ambassador
to Canada.

Jewish Federation President
and CEO Michael Balaban
expressed his support for
Cohen. “We are proud that David
L. Cohen, one of Jewish
Philadelphia’s most prominent
leaders, has been nominated to
serve as ambassador to Canada,”
Balaban said. “In his various
roles within our community
throughout the years, David L.

Cohen has demonstrated time
and again his ability to navigate
tricky waters; he is the consum-
mate negotiator. He has been a
wonderful partner to our Jewish
Federation, and we know he will
continue to make us all proud.”
Though now the senior
adviser to the CEO at Comcast,
Cohen has long been involved
in Philadelphia and national
politics, serving as chief of
staff to former Philadelphia
Mayor Edward Rendell, as well
David and Rhonda Cohen
served as co-chairs for the Jewish
Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s
fundraising campaign in 2017.

Courtesy of The Jewish Exponent
as host of Biden’s first official
fundraiser for his presidential
campaign in April 2019 in his
Philadelphia home. Cohen also
was a partner at and chairman
of Ballard Spahr Andrews
& Ingersoll, LLP, one of the
country’s 100 largest law firms.

In addition to serving as
Comcast’s senior executive vice
president, Cohen’s time at the
Philadelphia-based company
was shaped by his desire
to champion diversity and
equality in his communities as
Comcast’s chief diversity officer.

In that role, Cohen helped
build a partnership with the
National Urban League,
an organization providing
professional development,
counseling, and youth empow-
erment programming to Black
Americans. He also was an avid
supporter of “Comcast Cares
Day,” a company-wide day of
volunteerism, which he called
his “favorite day of the year.”
According to Comcast, the
annual event is an opportu-
nity for the 100,000 Comcast
employees to volunteer at more
than 1,000 organizations,
including UnidosUS, Boys &
Girls Clubs of America and Big
Brothers Big Sisters of America.

Cohen believes that Judaism
has instilled in him the values
of encouraging diversity and
acceptance. “One of my great passions
is to bring people of diverse
backgrounds and cultures
together,” Cohen said in an
interview with the Jewish
Exponent in 2013. “This is the
way I try to live my life.”
His work to promote equality
at Comcast extended further
to the Jewish Federation,
where he and his wife, Rhonda
Cohen, were co-chairs for
the Jewish Federation’s 2017
annual campaign.

During his time as vice
chairman, Cohen wanted to
extend the Jewish Federation’s
reach beyond support for
Israel, pushing to educate the
community on local issues,
such as poverty, that were
impacting the community.

“Twenty years ago, you say,
‘Federation’ and people are
thinking support for Israel,”
Cohen said to the Exponent
in 2017. “And there is this
sense among too many in the
Jewish community that there
aren’t a lot of poor Jews living
in Philadelphia, that there
aren’t hunger issues and social
service issues and education
issues within this community.”
In 1993, the Anti-Defamation
League awarded Cohen the
Americanism Award, which
honors community leaders
advocating for human rights
and equity.

“My friend David is a world-
class guy. He’s smart, savvy,
astute, politically adroit,
well-liked, discrete, a problem
solver and a multi-dimensional
thinker,” said Stephen Cozen,
founder of Philadelphia-based
law firm Cozen O’Connor and
vice chairman of the board of
the Jewish Federation along-
side Cohen. “The president
likes and trusts him. He will
be a great ambassador for an
important post. Besides all of
that, he is philanthropic and a
real mensch.”
If confirmed, Cohen will have
to navigate COVID-19 restric-
tions and economic recovery
following the pandemic.

On July 21, the Biden
administration extended travel
restrictions to Canada until
Aug. 21, due to concerns about
the more contagious delta
variant. The U.S. and Canada
are working together to fund
Gavi, the global vaccine
alliance, and COVAX, with the
goal of increasing global access
to COVID-19 vaccines.

“I look forward to working
with our neighbors in Canada, and
continuing to develop and grow
what is a very strong and important
relationship as we continue to
fight the pandemic and build our
economies back stronger,” Cohen
said in a statement.

Having grown up in Highland
Park, New Jersey, Cohen
attended Swarthmore College in
1977, earning bachelor’s degrees
in political science, history and
economics. He graduated from
the University of Pennsylvania
Law School in 1981. Cohen
served as chair of Penn’s board
of trustees until July 1, 2021.

Biden nominated University
of Pennsylvania President Amy
Gutmann as U.S. ambassador to
Germany earlier this month. l
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0741
Two Prominent Rabbis Retiring Next Year
L OCA L
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
NEXT SUMMER, the Phila-
delphia region will lose two of
its longest-tenured rabbis.

After 21 years, Lance
Sussman is stepping down
as senior rabbi at Reform
Congregation Keneseth Israel
in Elkins Park. And after 27
years, Aaron Krupnick is doing
the same at Congregation Beth
El in Voorhees, New Jersey.

Both men are leaving behind
4 JULY 29, 2021
significant legacies, according
to congregants.

KI and Beth El maintain
congregations of about 800
and 825 families, respectively.

And during their respec-
tive rabbinates, Sussman and
Krupnick oversaw the build-up
of preschool operations that
sustained their synagogues for
another generation.

But since Sussman is 67 and
Krupnick is 60, both men feel
they are entering new stages in
their lives.

Between October 2020 and
June 2021, Sussman experi-
enced a hospitalization after
a double bypass operation,
the death of his mother and
a move to Philadelphia. He
said the nine-month stretch
made him realize he wanted
to spend more time with
his wife, Liz Sussman, and
their five children and two
grandchildren. “You get to see life from the
other side,” Sussman said of his
hospitalization. Krupnick said he always
thought about retiring in his 60s.

JEWISH EXPONENT
And in recent years, he thought
about it more and more.

He knew he couldn’t see
the future of Judaism like
he could in his 30s, when he
pushed for the creation of
Beth El’s preschool: The Early
Childhood Center. Krupnick
also said he wants to see what
God has in store for him while
he’s still physically fit.

“Jewish life needs to evolve,”
Krupnick said.

Sussman came to KI in 2001
after 11 years at Temple Concord
in Binghamton, New York.

At first, the KI search
committee didn’t want to hire
him, according to its chair at
the time, Karen Sirota. Sussman
was leading a temple with about
250 congregants. KI’s member-
ship, on the other hand,
consisted of 1,200 families.

At the same time, Sirota and
the committee liked Sussman’s
resume, so they decided to
visit Binghamton and observe
him. After the Friday night
Shabbat service, they couldn’t
get a minute with the rabbi. He
was busy talking to congregant
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



H EADLINES
AT ARDEN COURTS WE
OFFER: 100% DEDICATED
MEMORY CARE
Rabbi Aaron
Krupnick with
students from
Congregation Beth
El’s Early Childhood
Center SAFE, SECURE INDOOR/
OUTDOOR WALKING
PATHS NURSING SERVICES
ON-SITE Courtesy of
Congregation Beth El
aft er congregant.

Th e committee was sold.

Sirota said
Sussman brought the same warmth and
connection to KI. But she also
said that, with Sussman, that
wasn’t just about the culture he
established. Th e senior rabbi
increased KI’s educational
programming to give members
more opportunities to connect.

“People became more
relational to each other because
of the programs he helped to
create,” Sirota said.

Both Sussmans, Lance and
Liz, also helped families build
relationships over the course
of their life cycles. Liz Sussman
ran the Richard E. Rudolf Jr.

Preschool & Infant Center and
helped increase enrollment by
more than a third, according to
Lance Sussman.

A decade ago, Sussman also
started livestreaming services
to help people connect even
when they couldn’t be together
in person.

But his proudest accomplish-
ment may be the second-fl oor
space that reminds members why
it’s important to connect: Th e
Holocaust Awareness Museum
and Education Center. Sussman
dedicated the museum to his
grandparents, who escaped Nazi
Germany. Th eir picture hangs
near the entryway.

“I’ve done what I set out to
do,” Sussman said.

Krupnick was born and raised
in Philadelphia, but his fi rst
big rabbi post was at Agudath
Israel in Montgomery, Alabama,
where he served for six years. By
1994, though, Krupnick’s father
had terminal cancer, so the
rabbi started seeking a position
closer to home.

But he only found one
opening: At Beth El, which at
the time was in Cherry Hill,
New Jersey. So, Krupnick took
it. Th en, in 1995 at a Jewish
conference, another rabbi told
Krupnick that preschools were
the future of synagogues.

“Th at’s how you’ll get young
families,” the colleague told
Krupnick. Th e rabbi returned to South
Jersey, proposed the idea to his
board of trustees and started
building. In 1998, the school
opened. Two years later, Beth
El completed a new school
building in Voorhees with 21
classrooms. By 2010, the temple
was opening a sanctuary at the
same location and moving its
operation there.

Now, the Early Childhood
Center welcomes about 140
kids a year, and the synagogue
maintains one of the largest
congregations in the region.

Krupnick said Beth El was
one of the fi rst synagogues to
open a preschool. It was not a
common model before the ’90s.

“Th at was a need I understood
as a young parent,” he said.

Th e senior rabbi believes
digital operations will be the
next wave of the future. Beth El
is on social media and started
off ering online services during
the pandemic last year. But
Krupnick delegates many of
the digital responsibilities to
younger congregants.

“We’re going to need
younger people to lead that,”
he said. ●
jsaff ren@jewishexponent.com;
215-832-0740 Thursday, August 5, 2021
11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Register in advance for this Zoom webinar by visiting the
LINK below:
https://tinyurl.com/brcfvxxe Questions can be directed to
VirtualSeminars@arden-courts.org FREE DEMENTIA VIRTUAL SEMINAR
Conversations with Dr. Tam Cummings
A Monthly Education Series for the Dementia Caregiver
Communication in Dementia
A Person with Dementia (PWD) is suffering from a terminal
brain disease. Understanding how memory works, knowing
the type of dementia your loved one has, and the stage of
the disease, allows caregivers to target conversation to the
memories that continue to function. Using this skill allows
for interactions with old memory and can lead families to
new insights into their loved one’s younger life. Join us as Dr.

Cummings discusses how you can improve communication
with persons living with dementia.

Tam Cummings, Ph.D., Gerontologist
Author, Untangling Alzheimer’s: The
Guide for Families and Professionals
SPONSORED BY:
© 2021 ProMedica
14173_Warminster-Yardley_5.5x11.indd 1
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM JEWISH EXPONENT
7/13/21 2:12 PM
JULY 29, 2021
5