DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, there are names that get carved into stone because someone paid for the stone — and then there are names that get carved in because the stone would feel the absence. Rabbi Henry Cohen is the second kind.
Born in London, England, in 1863, he came to Galveston in 1888 as spiritual leader of Congregation B'Nai Israel. He was twenty-five years old. He would not leave.
In 1889 he married Mollie Levy, and together they raised two children in that salt-aired, storm-prone, contradictory city on the Gulf. And what followed was sixty-four years of service — sixty-four years — until his death in 1952. That is not a tenure.
That is a life, poured out, one cause at a time. Now, Galveston in 1900 — if you know Texas history, you already feel that sentence tighten in your chest. The storm.
The disastrous storm of 1900. Texas Governor Joseph D. Sayers, faced with the wreckage of a city and the grief of its people, appointed Rabbi Cohen to head the Central Relief Committee.
That's who you call in a catastrophe — the person who already knows how to hold a community together. Then, from 1907 until World War I, he helped shiploads of immigrants — whole shiploads — become settled in cities around the country. And when that war came, he was instrumental in influencing Congress to provide Jewish naval chaplains.
After that, Governor Dan Moody appointed him to the Texas Prison Board, and there he introduced measures for more humane treatment of prisoners. He assisted New York slum residents in moving south. He fought for social justice for persons of all races and creeds.
Not some races. Not preferred creeds. All.
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson called him the First Citizen of Texas. Not first citizen of Galveston.
Of Texas. When Rabbi Henry Cohen died, the Commissioners Court of Galveston County called him one of this country's greatest humanitarians and spiritual leaders. And the marker notes — quietly, the way the most important things often get said — that he helped foster the spirit of brotherhood and interfaith goodwill existing in Galveston today.
Today. A man who arrived in 1888 and left something still living. That's a legacy with a pulse.
What the marker says
(1863-1952) Called the "First Citizen of Texas" by U. S. President Woodrow Wilson, Rabbi Henry Cohen, an internationally known humanitarian, was born in London, England. He came to Galveston in 1888 as spiritual leader of congregation B'Nai Israel and served for 64 years until his death. In 1889 he married Mollie Levy (1862-1951) and they had two children. After the disastrous storm of 1900, Texas Governor Joseph D. Sayers appointed Rabbi Cohen to head the Central Relief Committee. From 1907 until World War I he helped shiploads of immigrants become settled in cities around the country. During World War I he was instrumental in influencing Congress to provide Jewish naval chaplains. Appointed to the Texas Prison Board by Governor Dan Moody, Rabbi Cohen introduced measures for more humane treatment of prisoners. He assisted New York slum residents in moving south. He fought for social justice for persons of all races and creeds. He helped foster the spirit of brotherhood and interfaith goodwill existing in Galveston today. When Rabbi Cohen died, the Commissioners Court of Galveston County called him one of this country's greatest humanitarians and spiritual leaders.