At 42, Bonnie Cohen was living her dream life. Her husband Alan was the CEO of a successful company. They lived in a big house in Southern California, drove a Rolls Royce and a Porsche, and traveled – First Class – all over the world. They climbed the Great Wall of China, but were unaware of another famous Wall in Jerusalem.
The Cohens held a membership in two Jewish institutions: the local Reform Temple, whose services Bonnie half-heartedly attended one day a year, and the local Jewish Country Club, whose golf course Bonnie religiously attended four days a week.
Bonnie and Alan in the early days.
The Cohens had a son and a daughter, both in good colleges. In fact, the only reason they had joined the Temple was so that their son could have a Bar Mitzvah. They also sent their daughter Sheri to Hebrew School. She called it, “Jew jail,” and dropped out after two years.
Her daughter came home from college and announced that she had joined Jews for Jesus.
Then one autumn day in 1989, while cruising down the highway of her dream life, Bonnie hit a puncture. Her daughter Sheri came home from college and announced that she had joined Jews for Jesus.
“But we’re Jewish,” Bonnie sputtered.
“We’re Jewish,” Sheri shot back, “but we don’t keep kosher and we don’t keep Shabbos, and no one in our family does, and none of our friends do. It’s impossible today to keep the Torah. That’s why Jesus came. Because it’s impossible to keep the Torah.”
Bonnie with her golfing friends.
Bonnie and Alan couldn’t argue the point. They knew nothing about Judaism, but they were confident that the rabbi of their temple could point out to Sheri her theological misconceptions. They dragged their daughter to the rabbi, whom they barely knew. Sheri came armed with a handbook, 365 Prophecies that Prove that Jesus is the Messiah. The clergyman’s response was like fighting a tank with a water pistol. “Sheri,” he said benignly, “I’m not going to argue Scripture with you. You’re a wonderful girl. You have a wonderful family. And the most important thing is family.”
A few more platitudes and the meeting was over.
As they left, he whispered to Alan, “Don’t worry about it. It’s a phase. It will pass.”
It didn’t. Six months later, Sheri was engaged to a born-again Christian.
The Secret
Bonnie’s best friend commiserated with the Cohens. “It’s a missionary sect,” she agreed. “But I know a rabbi who got my cousin out.”
“The only way you’ll ever be able to reach your daughter is if you learn Judaism.”
Desperate, Alan called the rabbi. He told the Cohens, “The only way you’ll ever be able to reach your daughter is if you learn Judaism and can answer her questions. I’m going to invite your daughter to my home for Shabbos and even if she doesn’t come, I‘d like you two to come.”
Alan adamantly told Bonnie: “If Sheri doesn’t agree to come, do NOT accept the invitation, because I’m not going to anyone’s house for Shabbos, especially an orthodox rabbi.”
On Thursday night, they took Sheri to meet the rabbi. Sitting around his dining room table, he invited Sheri to come for Shabbos. “I’m not interested,” was her curt reply. Then the rabbi turned to the parents. “Bonnie, I would love you and Alan to come. “
Bonnie responded, “We’d love to.” Alan kicked her under the table, but it was too late.
As Bonnie describes that first Shabbos: “They had a very small house, six kids in two rooms. But whatever they had, they wanted to share. They even invited us to stay over. I saw a husband who treated his wife like a princess, and I saw a wife who showed such honor to her husband. They sang and shared words of wisdom, and everything they said made sense.”
The Cohens stayed till 1 am. At the end the rabbi asked them, “Did you have a good time?”
Alan responded enthusiastically: “It was great.”
“So come back next week.”
“Okay,” Alan agreed.
When they left, Bonnie turned to her husband and said, “These are the richest people I ever met in my life, and I want what they have. If this is Judaism, why are they keeping it such a big secret? Why didn’t anyone ever tell me about it?”
The Basement Apartment
Six months later the Cohens made their first trip to Israel, studying Judaism with rabbis from Aish HaTorah. One afternoon someone took Bonnie to meet Rebbetzin Dena Weinberg, the wife of Aish HaTorah’s founder Rabbi Noach Weinberg. Rebbetzin Weinberg ran EYAHT, a small school for young women with little Jewish background.
Bonnie was led into a shabby 3-room basement apartment in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Sanz. Taken aback, she wondered, “How in the world would anyone want to study here?”
She met Rebbetzin Weinberg, whom she considered, “the kindest, wisest woman I ever met.” Although she intended to spend only a few minutes in the school, Bonnie was fascinated by the classes and stayed all afternoon.
“If only my daughter had had an opportunity to come here and learn this Jewish wisdom, her life would be very different.”
For the rest of their stay in Jerusalem, Bonnie attended many classes at EYAHT. One day they received the news from America: Sheri had married her born-again Christian fiancé in a church wedding. Bonnie was overwhelmed by the trenchant feeling, “If only my daughter had had an opportunity to come here and learn this Jewish wisdom, her life would be very different.” Out of the smoldering ashes of her dreams for her daughter a wisp of smoke started to take the form of a new dream. “What can I do to make sure this doesn’t happen to other Jewish girls?” Bonnie asked herself. EYAHT was her answer.
A Sign
Years passed. The Cohens continued to learn Torah and became more observant. While living in the San Fernando Valley, they purchased a condominium in Jerusalem as a second home. When the construction was completed, they came for a ten-day visit in January, 1994. “I fell in love with the Land of Israel,” Bonnie reminisces, and she wanted to stay there. When it was time to return to California, Bonnie cried, begging Alan to stay for one more week.
Bonnie and Alan today
Alan refused. “I can’t be gone from the office one more day,” he insisted. “I have to run my business. If you want a second home in Israel, I have to be able to pay for it.”
His wife’s tears, however, finally won Alan over. “Okay, one more week,” he conceded, “but you have to go back with a smile. No more tears.”
They extended their ticket by one week. In the middle of that week, on January 17, 1994, the deadly Northridge earthquake struck. At 6.7 on the Richter scale, the earthquake killed 67 people, injured 8,700, and caused twenty billion dollars in damage.
The earthquake struck at 4:31 am. Had the Cohens returned to California according to plan, they would have been asleep in their bed, not far from the epicenter, when the earthquake struck.
Alan phoned his business partner and asked him to go to their house and board up any broken windows. A few hours later, the partner called them back to report that their house had suffered major damage, and was condemned by the city.
“If we had been there, do you think we would have been hurt?” Alan asked apprehensively.
“No,” his partner answered. “You would have been dead. Four times dead.”
He went on to describe the scene in their bedroom. A bridge of lights weighing 350 pounds spanned the two armoires on either side of the bed. The partner told how the bridge of lights had flipped off and landed on the top of the bed, just where their heads and shoulders would have been. The thick plate glass mirror behind the bed had shattered into large pieces, slicing through the comforter like a guillotine. A massive chest of drawers usually on the other side of the room had been thrown onto the end of the bed with such force that it had completely collapsed the bed. Their large TV had flown from its nook, and had landed in the middle of the bed.
Alan and Bonnie put down the phone and gazed at each other. When they could speak, their first words were: “What is life all about? How many cars can you drive? How many vacations can you go on? How many rounds of golf can you play? We’re not going to wait for another sign from God.” That very day they decided to move to Israel.
“My respect for my husband zoomed up,” recalls Bonnie. “He was at the top of his earning capacity and his business was growing when he made the decision to move to Israel. Alan couldn’t even read Hebrew, but he decided that his business and all it earned for us was no longer the most important thing in his life.”
Bonnie pauses and adds, “We downsized our life. Which really means that we upgraded our life. I existed in California, but I live in the Land of Israel.”
“The Hardest Thing I Ever Did”
As the years passed, the Cohens donated generously to Aish HaTorah and to the operating expenses of EYAHT, which remained in a three-room apartment. When the Aish HaTorah World Center, with a large, imposing Beit Midrash [hall of study] for men, was dedicated in 2000, Bonnie decided, “We really need to do something for women.”
The new EYAHT building.
She went to Rabbi Noach Weinberg with her idea. “I have this dream,” she told him. “If we raise $1 for every Jew we lost in the Holocaust, we would have 6 million dollars, and we could build a building for women to study Judaism.”
Rabbi Weinberg responded with his signature question: “Bonnie, do you know that Hashem loves you?”
Bonnie responded: “Yes, I know with all my heart that Hashem loves me.”
“Then you’re going to do this,” responded Rabbi Weinberg, “because Hashem wants you to do this, and you’re doing it for all the right reasons, and you’ll be successful.”
Now that she was armed with Rabbi Weinberg’s blessing, Bonnie had only one problem: How was she going to raise $6,000,000 when she had an absolute aversion to asking for anything? “The hardest thing in the world for me was to ask anyone for anything. My mother used to say, ‘You would die of thirst before you’d ask anyone for a glass of water.’”
Everything else necessary to actualize her dream, Bonnie did with fortitude and finesse. She and Alan found a plot of land in central Jerusalem, tore down the ruined building that stood there, and hired an architect to design a five-story building that would house classrooms, dormitory rooms for 72 young women, a multi-media center, a gym, and two kitchens. But how was she – the former country club golfer who drove a Porsche – going to get up the gumption to ask her friends and strangers for money?
Mentally, she turned her approach inside out. She wasn’t taking; she was giving. “I realized I wasn’t asking them for money; I was giving them an opportunity to be part of the greatest mitzvah in the world: to build up the next generation of amazing Jewish women who would marry Jewish and raise Jewish children.”
Still, it was excruciating for Bonnie. She steeled herself and called a wealthy friend, explained her dream, and asked for a donation of one million dollars. The friend said she needed time to think about it, and Bonnie should call back in a week. A week stretched into two, with Bonnie dreading to make the call. Finally Alan insisted, “You have to call her.”
“I can’t,” cried Bonnie. She sat in her bedroom staring at the phone for half an hour. “I couldn’t summon the courage to pick it up. I was so afraid she’d say, ‘No.’”
Alan pushed her; she dialed the number and waited with baited breath. Her friend said, “I have good news and bad news for you. Which do you want first?”
“Give me the bad news,” Bonnie murmured, her heart plummeting.
“We can’t do it all at once. We have to spread it out over three years.” The voice paused. “The good news is that we’re going to give you the million dollars.”
Bonnie gasped, a gasp so loud Alan heard it two rooms away.
Emboldened, the next day, she appealed to a second friend, who donated $800,000. “This will be easy!” Bonnie exulted. She thought she’d have the funds in no time.
She then approached a former golfing partner, a mega-wealthy friend whose foundation gives to charity more than $30,000,000 each year. Back in their country club days, Alan had helped this woman’s son get launched in his chosen career, while Bonnie had done many personal favors for her, so Bonnie assumed that a mega-donation was a shoe-in. Bonnie sat down with her friend, explained her dream, showed her the plans, and asked for a donation.
She felt like she was one-third up Mount Everest and stranded.
The friend gave a wry smile, shook her head, and said, “Bonnie, it’s not my thing.”
Bonnie went home and cried for days. She thought, ““If she’s not going to give me, no one will give me.” She felt like she was one-third up Mount Everest and stranded. She had reached that point by helicopter, but looking up at the sheer ascent in front of her, she realized she would have to climb the rest of the way up step by painful step. And she was as suited for fundraising as a paraplegic is suited for mountain climbing.
Bonnie went to Rebbetzin Weinberg and lamented that she just couldn’t do it. The Rebbetzin encouraged her, “Just say, ‘I’m going to do it with Hashem’s help,’ and you’ll succeed.”
Bonnie went home and broke through the wall of her comfort zone – every day. She mounted repeated mailing campaigns, stuffing and sealing the envelopes and affixing the stamps herself. She made phone calls, her hand freezing on the phone each time. She solicited everyone she met. Dining in a kosher restaurant in New York, she struck up a conversation with the people at the next table and told them she was building a school in Jerusalem for Jewish women. They donated $500.
Little by little, Bonnie has raised $5,700,000. She still needs $300,000 to finish the building. But the opening date of the new EYAHT has been set for January, 2014. “There might be a hole where the elevator is supposed to go,” Bonnie smiles, “but we’re opening.”
“My life is now powered by one ideal: how do I reach more girls, especially today when so many girls are assimilating and intermarrying for no other reason than the lack of a Jewish education. I just want to give girls an opportunity to make an educated decision as to how live their life Jewishly. For all we gave her, that’s an opportunity my daughter didn’t get.”
To help Bonnie reach her goal, click here: https://www.eyaht.info/en/campaign_building
(35) Ilana @nyc-Jerusalem, May 24, 2014 7:27 PM
Soooo inspiring....xxx
Dear Bonnie,
You are a very powerful, inspiring & amazing person.
I am so happy that I reconnected with you in Jerusalem.
May Hashem always bless you & your family
Bkol mikol kol.... Amen:)) with lots mazal & shimcha...
Much success for the new building of EHYAT & for the gala dinner on June 9. I know you give all your time & concern for this special new building for women's college in Jerusalem.
Kol ha kavod...
A big mazal Tov for the new building...
Losts of love,
Ilana??
(34) Dorit NYC, May 23, 2014 1:27 PM
Bonnie and Alan your story is truly inspiring. You both are amazing. May you live until 120 a happy life together.
(33) Abie, April 20, 2014 12:48 PM
Inspiring
Thanks to people like you I'm proud to be a Jew! Regards from NY
(32) Hannah, January 12, 2014 8:59 AM
Want to hear more!
What happened with Bonnie's daughter and grandchildren? Are they still in touch? Update please!!
(31) Bonnie Cohen, December 26, 2013 12:01 PM
Special Jew who was inspired by this story
We have an amazing donor who just read my story and was so inspired, that he will match all donations we receive before the grand opening, March 12th
We need your help to finish EYAHT's new building. Please help us reach our goal of $139,000 . Click here to donate https://www.eyaht.info/en/campaign_building
Thanks so much for being part of this incredible mitzvah!!!
(30) Shraga, November 8, 2013 4:42 AM
Inspiration!
I am honored to know such an amazing woman. My favorite part of the article was Rav Noach's emphasis on purity of intent. With 6 million dollars, may you merit to elevate the 6 million martyrs, and bring 6 million back home. See you at the dedication!
(29) Anonymous, November 4, 2013 8:01 PM
inspired!!!!!!!!
Bonnie I think you are a inspiration to us all, especialy by showing how if a person can muster up enough strength to get out of his comfort zone in order to help others it can go a long way. yashar koach!
(28) Anonymous, November 3, 2013 5:05 PM
so, nu, what became of her daughter?
so, nu, what became of her daughter? did she convert to Christianity? Do they show their presumed Christian grandchildren the life they live?
Marlene Langert, November 27, 2013 7:03 PM
Their daughter.
I, too, would like to know if they are still in touch with their daughter. Bonnie, please tell us.
(27) David Edwards, November 1, 2013 3:20 PM
Rabbi Kravitz
You should edit and update the article and include Rabbi Kravitz's name and his organization. He saved my daughter from Christianity and my friend's son. Anonymous is right that there may be other who need his help and wont see his name if they download the current article.
(26) Aliza, November 1, 2013 11:52 AM
Thank you
Thank you for your greatness, it is truly inspiring
(25) Anonymous, October 29, 2013 9:44 PM
mystery Rabbi? Who was/is he?
The unidentified Rabbi who rescued Jews from missionaries--and who had the wonderful family around the wonderful Shabbos table that made such an impression on the Cohens---- Who is he? Perhaps there are Jews he might be able to help even now---if they knew who he was!
Miriam, October 31, 2013 12:44 AM
Answer to your question
The unidentified Rabbi is Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz, Jews for Judaism in Los Angeles.
Alan Cohen, November 1, 2013 11:46 PM
Maybe or maybe a combination of the incredible Rabbi's we met along the way. All had a share in where we are today!
At the beginning we were fortunate to meet several Rabbi's and lay people that had a profound effect on us. The Rabbi's, Their Wife's, the Children, the people in the community who all opened up there homes and hearts to us.
(24) Anonymous, October 29, 2013 2:20 PM
inspired by article
Inspired by Bonnie's mission and the article. will bli neder donate $500 to EYAHT campaign (in November)
Bonnie Cohen, October 30, 2013 6:19 PM
Thank you so much
Thank you so much for being part of this incredible mitzvah...
A very heartfelt thank you to everyone who posted messages and sent me private messages. It was so wonderful to reconnect with so many of you who are so special to me and that I had not been in touch with lately. Thank you to everyone who posted the article and sent it to friends. Thank you to my dear friend Sara Rigler for writing the article.
A very special thank you to all of you who sent donations to help finish the building. Every donation means so much to me...no matter the size.
Aish HaTorah has the most incredible website and I feel privileged to have shared my story with all of you.
(23) Walter Bingham, October 29, 2013 6:47 AM
Bonnie & Alan, an example to follow
Although I heard most of this story at their wonderful Shabbos table, it is inspiring to read it over and over again. When the new building will be opened, you can hear Bonnie being interviewed on Walter's World at israelnationalradio.com.
In fact I intend to invite this great couple to tell their story on air, so that it can be heard around the world.
Thank you Bonnie and Alan for your great work
(22) Anonymous, October 29, 2013 2:48 AM
Very inspiring
I was very moved and inspired to read your story and hope that in the zechut of this enormous undertaking you and your husband will enjoy "yiddeshe nachas" from your decedents.
(21) Anonymous, October 28, 2013 11:44 PM
I knew Allan and Bonny well . I chaired the Admissions Committee at the country club and interviewed them extensively . But the Allan Nd Bonny I met in their home in Jerusalem were not the same people . so I too went to their source Aish HaTorah and Rabbi Cohen.
(20) Bea, October 28, 2013 2:57 AM
May the Cohens have continued success
The Cohens' hospitality in Israel is legendary. When my daughter and son-in-law were learning in Yerushalayim, they were generously invited to the Cohens' home for a Shabbos meal several times. They were always amazed by the number of other guests in attendance. In the zchus of the Cohens' generosity, may we all respond generously to their request.
Barbara Cohen, October 28, 2013 5:47 PM
To my dear brother Alan and sister -in -law Bonnie,
I am so proud of both of you for all of the accomplishments you have achieved in life.
It is clear to so many people of the good you have done for us as advocates for our heratige.
It really touched my heart to read the article in full. You and Bonnie should be so proud because I am very proud to call you My brother and sister.
May Hashem walk through life with you and bless both of you every day.
My love always and forever,
Your sister Barbara
Bonnie, October 28, 2013 9:30 PM
Thanks so much Barbara
We love you too and are so grateful for your support.
(19) SusanE, October 28, 2013 2:52 AM
Jewish Country Club?
There is a Jewish Country Club?
Yaakov, October 28, 2013 6:37 PM
Bonnie's Club had non Jewish members too.
The older country club nearby probably had less Jews than Bonnie's club as it was founded earlier.
Sara Rigler, October 29, 2013 8:32 AM
Jewish country clubs
In the 1950s, 60s, and perhaps into the 70s, regular country clubs did not admit Jews, so Jews had to start their own country clubs.
(18) Bonnie, October 27, 2013 10:41 PM
I've met this wonderful couple
While attending an JWRP conference, we were invited to the Cohens for an Oneg Shabbat. I learned they host up to 15 people every week for Shabbat dinner. You call to make your reservation and you are in. I was so impressed with how they welcomed strangers in their home each week for a meal. While it breaks my heart, their daughter distanced herself from yiddeshkeit, I have to believe her grandchildren will one day want to explore their Judaism and be blown away by it's beauty and truth. Even if that day doesn't come (but I hope it DOES!!!), the Cohen's chesed and generosity has brought hundreds or thousands back to Judaism. Thank you Mr. & Mrs. Cohen for welcoming me into your home. You are a gorgeous couple!
(17) aryeh markman, October 27, 2013 10:33 PM
The Cohens are an example to all of us.
Bonnie and Alan thank you for such a great article. It gave me alot chizuk. You showed the world nothing stands in the way of one's will. May Hashem return your children to you.
(16) miry, October 27, 2013 10:31 PM
speechless
wow!! עלו והצליחו!!!!!!
may you always have sucess and strength to continue doing what youre doing building jewish homes!!!!!!!
and may you see the fruits of your labor for many many healthy years to come and also lots of yidishe nachas from your family!!!
(15) Anonymous, October 27, 2013 10:07 PM
On Asking for Money
I so admire the courage of this woman to ask for money; which I
have found such a roadblock to doing more for causes I'm involved with. Thanks for the inspiration to get over this
hurdle!
(14) Anonymous, October 27, 2013 9:51 PM
Return to Judaism
Thank you for this fascinating story.
It is certainly a worthy cause, I hope Bonny and Alan's dream will come true in the near future, and much more.
(13) Sharon, October 27, 2013 8:32 PM
Don't be so close minded toward Reform Jews
I was brought up in the Reform tradition and currently belong to a Chabad congregation. Two of my brothers live in Israel and my other brother married an Israeli woman. I am saddened by the not so subtle criticism of the Reform Rabbi and Reform Judaism. I would like to see the Aish message be more inclusive and loving towards all Jews.
Harold, October 29, 2013 1:41 PM
Not really criticism
Sharon, I didn't read it as criticism of Reform the way you did. The article merely described what happened, what the Reform rabbi said when they visited him with their daughter, etc. The description itself may not be flattering, but it is a factual description of events, not an expression of opinion about the Reform movement. I would agree that what happened with the Reform rabbi, as described, is sad, and I would hope that a rabbi of any movement would be able to offer something more helpful and inspiring.
Harold Berman
Co-Author
"Doublelife: One Family, Two Faiths & a Journey of Hope"
(12) Karen, October 27, 2013 7:51 PM
Inspirational Couple
I had the privilege of spending Shabbat with Alan and Bonnie a couple of weeks ago and they are an absolutely inspirational couple who give, give, give! When Bonnie showed me around the new Eyat building her eyes sparkled as she spoke about the women who would be able to come and learn. What this couple are doing is simply amazing and they are incredible role models. May Hashem bless them in all that they do.
(11) Suzanne, October 27, 2013 7:11 PM
That was a great story ...
and, unfortunately, very believable. The American Jewish community is filled with so many similar stories where people believe that it's enough to be "cultural" Jews, or "philanthropic Jews", or that being politically liberal with a "good sense of humor" is all that's required to keep your family Jewish. The Cohen's hearts were opened at the right time by the right people. I wish them much success in their endeavors.
(10) Diane Drexler-Little, October 27, 2013 7:06 PM
Hashem works in mysterious ways
I come from a family of Reform Jews. My sister converted to marry a catholic from whom she divorced. She is now married to a non-practicing Protestant. She has two children. When the oldest, my niece, was born, my parents decided to instill Jewish values by taking her to Israel, introducing her to my son who was born in Israel, Pesach, etc. After college and grad school, my niece met a wonderful young man who happened to be Jewish. Last August, they married under the chuppah. (Needless to say, my sister and her husband were not under the chuppah with them. So, although, they aren't religious at this time, they are Jewish, and their children will be Jewish. So, sometimes, it seems that things aren't going the way we want, but Hashem has other plans. You are doing Hashem's work. Kol Hakavod.
(9) Leah, October 27, 2013 3:51 PM
Jewish grandchildren
Bonnie, even though your daughter considers herself a "christian", she is still halachically Jewish and your grandchildren are still halachically Jewish. maybe - with your influence, and in the merit of the mitzvot that you are now doing - they will return to Judaism some day. tizki l'mitzvot!
(8) larry cohen, October 27, 2013 3:05 PM
Her daughter was not on Drugs which is a worse problem.
Though I fully feel for the plight and confusion
of the parents with their daughter , I am thankful
the daughter was not on drugs and it was just
a matter where ideas could be changed.
(7) G. Berry, October 27, 2013 12:30 PM
LIke so many American Jews, I was raised in a secular Jewish home. My sibling became a born-again Christian who raised her children to be missionaries, and she now has non-Jewish grandchildren, so I feel your pain in a very intimate way. My sister was also "dragged" to the Reform rabbi by my parents, and in attempting to answer her doubts this rabbi told my sister that Jews don't believe in an afterlife or World to Come; that the Jew's role is to be as good a person as one can be in THIS world ( tikkun olam). She said that was when she knew that Judaism was not for her because besides doing good, she needed to know that there was something in the hereafter. Years later I attended my grandmother's funeral and realized that due to assimilation, my grandmother had more non-Jewish descendants than Jewish ones (lots of intermarriage elsewhere in our family too); it affected me deeply and further stirred my commitment to raising a Jewishly observant family of my own. Today BH all of my children and grandchildren are observant Jews. My mother, in seeking solace from this same rabbi years later for the pain she felt about my sister's leaving the fold, was told, "at least you have two very spiritual daughters" which of course was not the solace she was looking for. While I don't blame the rabbi's ignorance 100% for my sister's decision, I shudder to think how many other secular Jews have been mislead and pushed away from Judaism because of their lack of knowledge and misinformation. Thank you Mrs. Cohen for your efforts to keep the Jewish flame alive. I pray that someday, that inner spark will ignite your grandchildren's neshamos to return to their Jewish heritage and be a source of nachas for you.
(6) Miriam Grossman, October 24, 2013 11:08 PM
May Hashem continue to bless Alan and Bonnie Cohen
My husband and I were privileged to be introduced to Alan and Bonnie Cohen by our rebbitzen, an Eyaht alumnus. We joined them for a delicious memorable Shabbos lunch in their Jerusalem home. Guests were of all ages and nationalities and conversation centered on love for all Jews. I learned that the Cohens had not always been Shabbos observant and that they are supporters of Aish and are instrumental in building Eyaht, but I had never known their poignant story until I read this article.
The Cohens are true role models for us all. When Hashem called out to them, they responded wholeheartedly. They are caring, gracious, loving, committed and generous. May Hashem continue to bless Alan and Bonnie Cohen and their family in all their endeavors.
(5) Roxy, October 22, 2013 8:57 PM
Amazing neighbours!
Bonnie and Alan are our wonderful neighbours when ever we come to Israel and they always recharge our spiritual batteries with their love and warmth. We are so happy to have such close proximity to such special people. They are like Avraham ans Sara attracting people from far and wide and bringing them closer to Judaism. Kol Hakavod!
(4) Naomi, October 16, 2013 6:04 PM
Courageous Woman
Bonnie, you are one outstandingly courageous and humble Eishes Chayil. You looked in Tanach and saw that Moshe Rabbeinu led the Jewish People out of Egypt and through the desert for 40 years and brought them the Torah, despite his Egyptian upbringing and debilitating speech defect, and said "I too must overcome my shyness and live up to my responsibility to the Jewish People by fundraising for this building". Awe-inspiring. What an honour to know you.
(3) Henry Goodelman, October 14, 2013 6:52 AM
Sincerely Dedicated, Committed and Passionate
The work of the Cohen family is truly phenomenal. The power of their message and the unique way they share it is only matched by the taste of Bonnie’s cookies, the value to Alan’s perspective, the number of bottles and guests they welcome into their home, and the warmth in their hearts!
(2) Magda, October 14, 2013 6:52 AM
I'm so sorry
Dear Mrs Cohen,
I am so sorry about the decision made by your daughter. I deeply understand your great loss. It is not only you who have lost your daughter but the Jewish people have lost 1 daughter.
It is just too much that I cannot just simply share with you all the reasons that bring me up to say "I am so sorry".
Let me just pray that G-d Himself will strengthen you day after day.
Sincerely,
Magda
(1) nechami, October 13, 2013 10:48 PM
BEAUTIFUL!!
Thank you for this incredible article, Bonnie is an amazing inspiration to us all to follow our dreams and to push through past our comfort zone. I wish her much hatzlacha in acquiring her goal and I daven that her family should return to the beauty of the Torah.