Rena Cohen

Rena Cohen (May 31, 1940 – Jan. 1, 2023) was a leading activist in the Soviet Jewry movement in Canada, and a Canadian journalist. From 1978 to 1983, Cohen was one of four “key leaders”[1] in the Calgary campaign to compel the U.S.S.R. to comply with the Helsinki Accords, a human rights document it had endorsed but was said to violate. After moving to Toronto, Cohen continued her advocacy with Genya Intrator, “a key player in the Canadian Soviet Jewry movement.”[2] As a journalist, Cohen’s writings were mainly focussed on Soviet Jewry. She was “deeply involved” with the development of The Jewish Star, Calgary’s first independent Jewish newspaper.[3]

Personal life

Cohen was born Rowena[4] Dvorkin in Calgary to Ted Dvorkin (1910–97)[5] and Miriam (1913–2006)[6] née Bercov. Her paternal[7] and maternal[8] grandparents were born in Russia, as was her father;[9] her mother[10] was born in Calgary. In 1955, she graduated from Connaught School,[11] and in 1979, completed the Library Arts Programme at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, both in Calgary.[12] On Feb. 16, 1960,[13] she married businessman Myer Cohen (1936–2019),[14] from whom she was later divorced. The couple had four children.

Cohen moved to Toronto in 1983[15] and started Cohen Marketing Services,[16] a sales and marketing company. In March 1991, she made aliyah, settling in Tsfat,[17] where she remained the rest of her life. Affiliated in Calgary during her early and married years with the Shaarey Tzedec Congregation,[18] a Traditional synagogue which lacked a mechitza,[19] in Tsfat she underwent a religious transformation and lived “a completely observant Jewish lifestyle”.[20] Cohen was treated for breast cancer in 2007,[21] and died in Tsfat.

Soviet Jewry activism

The effort to secure the right of Jews to emigrate from the Soviet Union – “a twenty-five year struggle that involved hundreds of thousands of people”[22] – was deemed "the pre-eminent task of this generation of American Jews.”[23] A Soviet Jewish activist said that “without this support, we are lost.”[24] Canadian efforts to secure the right of Jews to emigrate from the Soviet Union spanned the late 1960s[25] to 1991.[26] In Calgary, Soviet Jewish activism began in 1970, and a Calgary Committee for Soviet Jewry (CCSJ) was established in 1974.[27]

Cohen had not “paid a great deal of attention” to the subject until, while on a Jewish organizational trip to Israel in 1978,[28] she heard from Alexander Slepak[29] about the efforts of his parents, Maria and Vladimir Slepak,[30] to leave the Soviet Union.[31] Soviet authorities arrested the Moscow couple on June 1, 1978, after they displayed a banner demanding that they be allowed to reunite with their son in Israel.[32] On June 21, Vladimir Slepak, 50, an electrical engineer known as “the father of the Jewish emigration effort in the Soviet Union and one of the leading refuseniks,”[33] was sentenced to five years in exile in Russia.[34]

For the next 13 years, in Calgary and Toronto, Cohen drew public attention to the cause of Soviet Jews. In 1978, she was co-chairman of the CCSJ of the Calgary Jewish Community Council;[35] from 1979[36] to 1981[37] she was CCSJ chairperson;[38] in 1981, she started the short-lived[39] Calgary Action Program for Jews in the Soviet Union.[40]

Cohen taught a course on Soviet Jewry at the Calgary Jewish Centre,[41] spoke locally[42] and at Soviet Jewry conferences,[43] and urged community members to join her in connecting directly with refuseniks by writing letters to them.[44] She assisted in organizing a public rally in downtown Calgary for Soviet Jews,[45] and organized another at Calgary City Hall.[46] She had her younger son, at his bar mitzvah celebration, recognize a Soviet Jewish refusenik unable to mark such an occasion by “twinning” the event,[47] and urged others to do likewise.[48] Having lobbied the office of John William Thomson, her Member of Parliament, she was assured of support for the Soviet Jewry cause in Ottawa.[49]

Among the refuseniks with whom she had direct contact, or for whom she advocated in particular, while in Calgary were: Mark Berenfield,[50] Victor Brailovsky (born 1935),[51] Mikhail Kosharovsky,[52] Yosef Mendelevich (born 1947),[53] Ida Nudel (1931–2021),[54] Alexander and Paulina Paritsky,[55] Anatoly Sharansky (born 1948),[56] and Maria and Vladimir Slepak (1927–2015).[57]

Cohen continued her Soviet Jewry advocacy after moving in 1983 to Toronto,[58] where she associated with Moscow-born, Israeli-raised Genya Intrator (1927–2008).[59] Intrator had been involved with the movement since 1970,[60] and Cohen had known her at least since 1981.[61] Intrator provided Cohen with information and guidance, so that she “became my dearest friend ... really my director”.[62]

Cohen served as Chairman, Lifeline Letters,[63] of the Inter-Religious Task Force for Human Rights and Religious Freedoms in the Soviet Union and Baltic States, which was the Canadian chapter of the Chicago-based group. The Canadian chapter, launched in 1983,[64] was headed by Intrator and Maureen Giroux.[65] Cohen was occasionally a speaker at Toronto Jewish organizations.[66] In Oct. 1986, Cohen was in Ottawa with Intrator and the Montreal 35s (a women’s campaign for Soviet Jewry)[67] shadowing Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze during his trip to Ottawa.[68] In March 1987, Cohen was at Intrator’s Toronto home when Ida Milgrom visited there.[69] In September 1987, Cohen met Sharansky during his brief stopover in Toronto.[70] She showed him a 1982 letter she had received from MP Thomson’s office concerning a letter Thomson had written to the Canadian government about Sharansky. A cover letter from Thomson’s office concluded, “Let us hope that eventually the Soviet Government will bend under constant pressure.” Sharansky wrote on it, in English, “Thanks – it worked!”[71]

Calgary controversy

In 1981, Cohen decided to send nearly her entire donation to the United Jewish Appeal that year directly to Israel via the United Israel Appeal, rather than to make the donation through the local campaign, as was customary. Her decision was based on her being told that the Calgary community was not transmitting to Israel in a timely way funds raised for Israel.[72] Subsequent to her donation being made, the Board of Directors of the Calgary Jewish Community Council adopted a resolution, at its June 29, 1981 meeting, that “any person who chooses to withhold any portion of his/her United Jewish Appeal contribution from the local community beneficiaries should not be permitted to serve in a leadership capacity on a committee of the Community Council, or on any local beneficiary Board.”[73] A similar resolution was reportedly approved by other Canadian communities,[74] but in Calgary it received mostly negative comments.[75]

At the time, Cohen was active in the Calgary Jewish community.[76] On October 6, 1981, in light of the resolution, she was asked by the president of the Council to resign her position as head of the Council’s Soviet Jewry Committee. She declined to do so. In a written response, she called for a meeting with the president, which took place on November 17. After that meeting, Cohen was removed from her position.[77]

Not long afterwards, Cohen started the independent Calgary Action Program for Jews in the Soviet Union. It held its first program on December 10.[78]

Journalism

Cohen’s journalism was largely an adjunct to her Soviet Jewry advocacy. During 1979–80 in Calgary, she was a columnist for the Calgary Jewish News.[79] From 1980-83, she published news reports, commentary and letters in the Alberta Jewish Star newspapers,[80] for which she was also Contributing Editor.[81]

Numerous letters to the editor were published by her in Canadian newspapers. In 1978, her first approach to the Calgary Herald seeking publicity for refusenik Vladimir Slepak was rejected. She was told by Lawrie Joslin, editor of the editorial page,[82] that they were “very frightened that by putting something in the Calgary Herald, it might impact the family in a negative way.” Upon assurance from the Slepak family in Israel that this would not be the case,[83] the daily newspaper accepted her pieces. Letters to the editor from Cohen concerning Soviet Jews and Israel appeared in the Calgary Herald,[84] Edmonton Journal,[85] Calgary Albertan,[86] Toronto Star,[87] Toronto Globe and Mail,[88] Winnipeg Jewish Post,[89] and New York Jewish Week.[90]

Tsfat

After moving to Israel, where she was known as Rena Dvorkin Cohen (in Hebrew, רינה דבורקין–כהן), Cohen got “very busy” with her life and found little time for Soviet Jewry advocacy.[91] Her focus turned to philanthropic efforts. She was the main volunteer fundraiser at Lev U’Neshama (“Heart and Soul”),[92] which provided aid to some 3,000 financially distressed families in Tsfat,[93] and Director, Centre for the Advancement of the Blind.[94]

Other

Zlata Ehrenstein, Soul Surfing: Navigating the Sea of Life According to Jewish Mystical Teachings (Jerusalem: Menorah Books, 2010), edited by Rena Dvorkin Cohen and E. Golden.

Recognition

Boys Town Jerusalem Dinner, Calgary, Oct. 30, 1979, recognizing Myer and Rena Cohen for service to the community and to Israel[95]

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Saundra Lipton, “Let My People Go: Calgary Community Support for the Free Soviet Jewry Movement,” Canadian Jewish Studies 40 (2025), 93.
  2. ↑ Wendy Eisen, Count Us In: The Struggle to Free Soviet Jews. A Canadian Perspective (Toronto: Burgher Books, 1995), 19.
  3. ↑ Lewis Levendel, A Century of the Canadian Jewish Press: 1880s-1980s (Ottawa: Borealis Press, 1989), 242 (where Cohen’s first name is misspelled “Rina”).
  4. ↑ As a youth, Cohen went by both Rowena (“Youthful Actors Charm Audience,” Calgary Albertan, June 7, 1951, 9) and her Hebrew name Rena (Fred Kennedy, “Agricultural Alberta,” Calgary Herald, April 10, 1954, 16), preferring the latter exclusively later in life.
  5. ↑ Ted Dvorkin death notice, Calgary Herald (Jan. 11, 1997), C21. For Ted Dvorkin’s arrival in Calgary: Gary Dvorkin, “The Dvorkin Family: A Century in Scrap Metal,” Discovery: Journal of the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta 28 (Winter 2018), 2–3.
  6. ↑ “Dvorkin – Miriam,” Calgary Herald (June 20, 2006), B8.
  7. ↑ “Four Children Travel Here All Way From Russia. D. Dworkin Sees His Family For First Time in Nine Years,” Calgary Daily Herald (Aug. 30, 1922), 11.
  8. ↑ “Mrs. William Bercov,” Calgary Herald (May 27, 1955), 38; “William Bercov,” Calgary Albertan (Dec.12, 1957), 18.
  9. ↑ “Four Children Travel Here All Way From Russia. D. Dworkin Sees His Family For First Time in Nine Years,” Calgary Daily Herald (Aug. 30, 1922), 11.
  10. ↑ “Dvorkin – Miriam,” Calgary Herald (June 20, 2006), B8.
  11. ↑ “Graduation Is Held At Connaught School,” Calgary Herald (June 29, 1955), 32.
  12. ↑ “About our instructors,” Calgary Jewish News (Sept. 1979), 8.
  13. ↑ “Engagements,” Calgary Herald (Nov. 4, 1959), 33; “Social Notes,” Calgary Albertan (Feb. 2, 1960), 6.
  14. ↑ “In Loving Memory: Frederick M (Myer) Cohen,” Calgary Herald (Jan. 24, 2019).
  15. ↑ Editorial, “A Star is Gone,” Calgary Jewish Star (July 15, 1983), 4–5.
  16. ↑ Advertisement, Calgary Jewish Star (Oct. 3, 1986), 15.
  17. ↑ Gil Kezwer, “Cohen one among many: Canadians make aliya again,” Canadian Jewish News (March 21, 1991), 22.
  18. ↑ For example, “Sisterhood Plans Annual Dance,” Calgary Albertan (Oct. 6, 1962, 8).
  19. ↑ “Shaarey Tzedec Votes to Keep Family Seating,” Calgary Jewish Star (July 15, 1983), 1.
  20. ↑ Judy Lash Balint, Jerusalem Diaries II: What’s Really Happening in Israel ([Longwood, Florida]: Xulon Press, 2007), 171.
  21. ↑ Video interview of Cohen by Glenn Richter, Oct. 27, 2010, Soviet Jewry Oral History Project, Yeshiva University, New York, at 1:33.
  22. ↑ Natan Sharansky, Defending Identity: Its Indispensable Role in Protecting Democracy (New York: Public Affairs, 2008), 130.
  23. ↑ “[Theodore] Mann: Rescue of Soviet Jews is Pre-eminent Task of U.S. Jews,” JTA Daily News Bulletin (Nov. 17, 1981), 1.
  24. ↑ Yuri Stern, cited in Robert A. Cohn and Carol B. Lundgren, “CJF Adopts Resolutions on AWACS, Women, Soviets, Falashas,” St. Louis Jewish Light (Nov. 18, 1981), 34.
  25. ↑ Gerald Tulchinsky, Canada’s Jews: A People’s Journey (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008), 430–2.
  26. ↑ Saundra Lipton, “Let My People Go: Calgary Community Support for the Free Soviet Jewry Movement,” Canadian Jewish Studies 40 (2025), 91.
  27. ↑ Saundra Lipton, “Let My People Go: Calgary Community Support for the Free Soviet Jewry Movement,” Canadian Jewish Studies 40 (2025), 92.
  28. ↑ Cohen, letter to the editor, “Russia refuses exit visa,” Calgary Herald (June 14, 1978), 8.
  29. ↑ Alexander Slepak (born 1952) was the elder Slepak son, and at the time lived in Jerusalem (David Friedman, “Mrs. Slepak Tells of Questioning by Moscow Police,” JTA Daily News Bulletin, June 5, 1978, 3).
  30. ↑ “Slepak, Vladimir,” Who’s Who in World Jewry 1978 (Tel Aviv: Olive Books, 1978), 843.
  31. ↑ Video interview of Cohen, Oct. 27, 2010, Soviet Jewry Oral History Project, Yeshiva University, New York, at 1:33-3:55.
  32. ↑ “Slepak Sentenced to 5 Years, Nudel 4 Years of ‘Internal Exile’,” JTA Daily News Bulletin (June 22, 1978), 1.
  33. ↑ Haskel Lookstein, “‘Father’ Of The Refusenik Movement,” New York Jewish Week (April 28, 2015).
  34. ↑ Kathryn Warden, “ ‘Prisoners of conscience’ rally draws prayers and signatures,” Calgary Herald (July 18, 1978), B14; Cohen, letter to the editor, “Here’s more of the tragic tale of Vladimir Slepak,” Calgary Albertan, Sunday Tab (Nov. 12, 1978), 15.
  35. ↑ Elliot Cohen and Rena Cohen, letter to the editor, “Soviet dissident petition supported,” Calgary Herald (Aug. 3, 1978), 8. The Cohen letter writers (who were not related) are identified as “Co-chairmen, Calgary Committee for Human Rights in the Soviet Union,” which appears to be the same as the CCSJ (Saundra Lipton, “Let My People Go: Calgary Community Support for the Free Soviet Jewry Movement,” Canadian Jewish Studies 40, 2025, 105 fn.28); “About our instructors,” Calgary Jewish News (Sept. 1979, 8). Elliot Cohen went on aliyah in 1980 (“M.A.P.,” Calgary Jewish Star, Aug. 22, 1980, p. 5).
  36. ↑ Calgary Jewish Star (Dec. 4, 1981), 7, and Saundra Lipton, “Let My People Go: Calgary Community Support for the Free Soviet Jewry Movement,” Canadian Jewish Studies 40 (2025), 92.
  37. ↑ “Organizations Polled for Response to UJA Motions,” Calgary Jewish Star (Dec. 4, 1981), 7.
  38. ↑ “About our instructors ,” Calgary Jewish News (Sept. 1979), 8. The date when she was Head is given as from 1979 in Calgary Jewish Star, Dec. 4, 1981, 7.
  39. ↑ Saundra Lipton, “Let My People Go: Calgary Community Support for the Free Soviet Jewry Movement,” Canadian Jewish Studies 40 (2025), 93.
  40. ↑ Previously called “Calgary Committee to Free the Paritsky Family”: Cohen letter, “Fight for human rights,” Calgary Herald (Dec. 12, 1981), A8; “Mostly About People,” Calgary Jewish Star (Dec. 18, 1981), 5.
  41. ↑ Cohen, “From Chmielnicki to Sharansky: The Soviet Jewish Experience,” Calgary Jewish News (Sept. 1979), 9.
  42. ↑ At Temple B’nai Tikvah, Nov. 18, 1979 (“Liberal Congregation Notes,” Calgary Jewish News, Nov. 1979, 8; March 1980, p. 14); “Activist to Lecture on Soviet Jews,” Calgary Jewish Star (Nov. 8, 1985), 3.
  43. ↑ For example: Workshop, “Jews in the U.S.S.R.” at Western Canada Conference of Jewish Communities (“Conference of Western Jewish Communities Provides Forum for Discussion and Analysis,” Calgary Jewish Star, Oct. 23, 1981, 5).
  44. ↑ “M.A.P.,” Calgary Jewish Star (April 3, 1981), 5 (for Passover).
  45. ↑ Kathryn Warden, “‘Prisoners of conscience’ rally draws prayers and signatures,” Calgary Herald (July 18, 1978), B14.
  46. ↑ “Ceremony for Refuseniks Held on City Hall Steps,” Calgary Jewish Star (Jan. 22, 1982), 1.
  47. ↑ “Cohen Bar Mitzvah,” Calgary Jewish Star (Oct. 31, 1980), 7; “M.A.P.,” Calgary Jewish Star (Nov. 14, 1980), 7.
  48. ↑ “M.A.P.,” Calgary Jewish Star, Nov. 14, 1980, p. 4; Cohen letter to the editor, “‘Glasnost’ in Calgary,” Calgary Jewish Star (Mar. 27, 1987), p. 4.
  49. ↑ Video interview of Cohen, Oct. 27, 2010, Soviet Jewry Oral History Project, Yeshiva University, New York, at 21:51-23:14; “M.A.P.,” Calgary Jewish Star (Feb. 19, 1982), 5.
  50. ↑ Cohen arranged a live phone call on CBC radio Calgary to refusenik Mark Berenfeld [sic] in Moscow, a friend of Izmail Plastik’s (“M.A.P.,” Calgary Jewish Star, Dec. 18, 1981, 5). Name is also spelled “Berenfield”, name is also spelled “Ismail” (for both names, see “Threat to Moscow Legal Seminar,” Calgary Jewish Star, Oct. 31, 1980, 2).
  51. ↑ Cohen, “‘A Phone Call. Then the News’,” Calgary Jewish Star (April 3, 1981), 5.
  52. ↑ “M.A.P.,” Calgary Jewish Star (Nov. 14, 1980), 7; Cohen, “‘A Phone Call. Then the News’,” Calgary Jewish Star (April 3, 1981), 5.
  53. ↑ Cohen, “‘A Phone Call. Then the News’,” Calgary Jewish Star (April 3, 1981), 5.
  54. ↑ [Rena Cohen], “Ida Nudel: ‘Angel of Mercy’,” Calgary Jewish News (Dec. 1979), 2.
  55. ↑ “City Group Forms to Help Paritskys, Soviet Outcasts,” Calgary Jewish Star (Nov. 6, 1981), 7; “Paritsky Gets Three Year Prison Term,” Calgary Jewish Star (Nov. 20, 1981), 1.
  56. ↑ Cohen, “‘A Phone Call. Then the News’,” Calgary Jewish Star (April 3, 1981), 5.
  57. ↑ Kathryn Warden, “ ‘Prisoners of conscience’ rally draws prayers and signatures,” Calgary Herald (July 18, 1978), B14; Cohen, letter to the editor, “Here’s more of the tragic tale of Vladimir Slepak,” Calgary Albertan (Nov. 12, 1978), 15 (letter); “‘Be a Real Jew’,” Calgary Jewish Star (Jan. 23, 1981), 8; ‘From Exile in Siberia,” Calgary Jewish Star (Oct. 23, 1981), 2.
  58. ↑ “M.A.P.,” Calgary Jewish Star (Feb. 17, 1984), 5; “M.A.P.,” Calgary Jewish Star (Sept. 7, 1984), 5; “Activist to Lecture on Soviet Jews,” Calgary Jewish Star (Nov. 8, 1985), 3; Cohen, letter to the editor, “Shevardnadze didn’t disarm protest group,” Toronto Star (Oct. 13, 1986).
  59. ↑ Death notice, “Intrater, [sic] Eugenie,” Toronto National Post (Aug. 1, 2008), PM11.
  60. ↑ Suzanne Zwarun, “Woman maintains lifeline to Soviet Jews,” Calgary Herald (Oct. 14, 1983), C10.
  61. ↑ Cohen and Intrator (then Chairman, Canadian Committee for Soviet Jewry) spoke at the same Western Canada Conference workshop in Edmonton during Oct. 23-25, 1981 (Douglas Wertheimer and Rena Cohen, “Conference of Western Jewish Communities Provides Forum for Discussion and Analysis,” Calgary Jewish Star, Oct. 23, 1981, 5CE; and for the date, “Agenda for Western Region Meeting in Edmonton Set,” Calgary Jewish Star, Oct. 9, 1981, 1).
  62. ↑ Video interview of Cohen, Oct. 27, 2010, Soviet Jewry Oral History Project, Yeshiva University, New York, at 6:49.
  63. ↑ Cohen, letter to the editor, “Shevardnadze didn’t disarm protest group,” Toronto Star (Oct. 13, 1986), 10; Carolyn Blackman, “Film on Zionism criticized,” Canadian Jewish News (March 13, 1986), 29.
  64. ↑ Joe Serge, “Activist fights for Soviet Jews,” Toronto Star (Nov. 19, 1984), A7.
  65. ↑ “M.A.P.,” Calgary Jewish Star (Sept. 7, 1984), 5.
  66. ↑ “Beth Sholom Breakfast Club,” Canadian Jewish News (Feb. 27, 1986), 14.
  67. ↑ Wendy Eisen, Count Us In: The Struggle to Free Soviet Jews. A Canadian Perspective (Toronto: Burgher Books, 1995), 64–66.
  68. ↑ Shevardnadze was in Ottawa for a 2-day visit with Canadian officials on Oct. 1-2, 1986 (Gordon Barthos, “Protesters dog Shevardnadze demanding visas for ‘refuseniks’,” Toronto Star, Oct. 3, 1986, A3).
  69. ↑ Video interview of Cohen, Oct. 27, 2010, Soviet Jewry Oral History Project, Yeshiva University, New York, at 18:18; 19:25-21:25. Ida Milgrom spoke in Toronto on March 19, 1987 (advertisement, Canadian Jewish News, March 19, 1987, 34; see also Leslie Fruman, “Ida Milgrom’s fight is far from finished,” Toronto Star, March 16, 1987, C1; Daniel Droiet, “”Mother of freed dissident denounces Soviet ‘openness’,” Ottawa Citizen, March 19, 1987, A4). Genya Intrator acted as translator at the talk (Wendy Rosen, “Toronto cheers Milgrom,” Canadian Jewish News, March 26, 1987, 1).
  70. ↑ Wendy Rosen, “Patience pays off: Enthusiastic crowd greets hero Scharansky,” Canadian Jewish News (Sept. 23, 1987), 3.
  71. ↑ Video interview of Cohen, Oct. 27, 2010, Soviet Jewry Oral History Project, Yeshiva University, New York, at 22:40-23:25; Shirley Lester (Administrative Assistant)-Cohen (Oct. 26, 1982).
  72. ↑ Saundra Lipton, “Let My People Go: Calgary Community Support for the Free Soviet Jewry Movement,” Canadian Jewish Studies 40 (2025), 106 fn.38.
  73. ↑ Morris Dancyger, “Notes Re: 1981 Calgary United Jewish Appeal,” Calgary Jewish Star (Dec. 4, 1981), 5.
  74. ↑ Lesley Jacobson, “‘Tokenism Will Not Do!’,” Calgary Jewish Star (Dec. 18, 1981, 4–5).
  75. ↑ E. Bruce Corenblum, “‘The Motion Will Drive a Wedge Thru the Community’,” and Morris Dancyger, “Notes Re: 1981 Calgary United Jewish Appeal,” both Calgary Jewish Star (Dec. 4, 1981), 5; letters to the editor, Calgary Jewish Star (Dec. 18, 1981), 4–5; (Jan. 22, 1982), 4.
  76. ↑ Cohen was elected a member of the Board of Directors of the Calgary Jewish Community Council (“Concerns Voiced at Community Meeting,” Calgary Jewish Star, Oct. 31, 1981, 8); served in the UJA Women’s Division Cabinet (“Theme and Cabinet Announced for 1980 UJA Women’s Division,” Calgary Jewish News, Feb. 1980, 3) and the board of Congregation Beth Israel (Editorial, “A Star is Gone,” Calgary Jewish Star, July 15, 1983, 5); had been active in Hadassah-WIZO (Calgary Herald, Nov, 19, 1963, 25); and started the library at the Calgary Jewish Centre (Rachelle Namak, “The Centre Library,” Calgary Jewish News, Feb. 1980, D). As a teen, she had been involved with Bnai B’rith Youth Organization (Edmonton Journal, Dec. 31, 1955, 15) and B’nai B’rith Girls (Calgary Albertan, Aug. 3, 1957, 10).
  77. ↑ “Organizations Polled for Response to UJA Motions,” Calgary Jewish Star (Dec. 4, 1981), 7.
  78. ↑ “M.A.P.,” Calgary Jewish Star (Dec. 18, 1981), 5.
  79. ↑ For example: Cohen, “News From the Soviet Union,” Calgary Jewish News (Sept. 1979), 2.
  80. ↑ For example: Cohen, “Night of the Murdered Poets,” Calgary Jewish Star (Aug. 22, 1980), 4; Cohen, “Chief Rabbi [Immanuel Jakobovits] Discusses Major Issues Facing Today’s Jew,” Edmonton Jewish Star (Feb. 1983), 2.
  81. ↑ Masthead, Calgary Jewish Star (Aug. 22, 1980), 4.
  82. ↑ “Herald announces senior editorial promotions,” Calgary Herald (Jan. 6, 1978), B2.
  83. ↑ Video interview of Cohen, Oct. 27, 2010, Soviet Jewry Oral History Project, Yeshiva University, New York, at 3:55.
  84. ↑ For example: Cohen, letter to the editor, “Fight for human rights,” Calgary Herald (Dec. 12, 1981), A8.
  85. ↑ Cohen, “Real tragedy in Gaza is what people don’t see,” Edmonton Journal (Nov. 29, 2010), A16.
  86. ↑ For example: Cohen, letter to the editor, “Here’s more of the tragic tale of Vladimir Slepak,” Calgary Albertan (Nov. 12, 1978), 15.
  87. ↑ Cohen, letter to the editor, “Shevardnadze didn’t disarm protest group,” Toronto Star (Oct. 13, 1986), 10.
  88. ↑ Cohen, letter to the editor, “Peace-group differences,” Toronto Globe and Mail (Feb. 10, 1986), 6.
  89. ↑ Cohen, letter to the editor, “Seeking Bluma and Chaika Shklov,” Winnipeg Jewish Post (Oct. 16, 1991), 4.
  90. ↑ Cohen, letter to the editor, “Charity Decision,” New York Jewish Week (April 13, 2007), 8.
  91. ↑ Video interview of Cohen, Oct. 27, 2010, Soviet Jewry Oral History Project, Yeshiva University, New York, at 30:30.
  92. ↑ “Lev v’Neshama”, Lilith magazine (Spring 2003), 46.
  93. ↑ Rena Dvorkin Cohen, “Helping Others, But Not Ourselves,” Chicago Jewish Star (Jan. 14, 2005), 6.
  94. ↑ Grady Semmens, “Israeli charity seeks Calgary’s help again,” Calgary Herald (Jan. 2, 2004), B10.
  95. ↑ “Sisco Stresses Political Threat to Israel at Calgary Appearance,” Calgary Jewish News (Dec. 1979), 1.
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