Sheva Cohen: Building Community with a Bequest

Sheva Cohen’s immersion in her Jewish community began almost by accident. She and her husband Marty had recently moved to Elkins Park, where they joined Adath Jeshrun. Then a neighbor suggested they try the nursery school down the street, at Rodeph Shalom, for their young children. “The Jewish world was important to me, but I wasn’t actively thinking about it at the time,” says Sheva, who was busy racking up graduate degrees in preparation for work as a strategic planner. But while a planner both by nature and profession, Sheva never predicted what would happen next: Bit by bit, the Cohens were gradually drawn into a nurturing community that would become so fundamental to their lives that Sheva would one day create a bequest with the Jewish Federation in order to nourish it.

“the Jewish Federation takes a comprehensive view of the funding needs of the Jewish community,” says Sheva. “We had a great life because of so many wonderful institutions in the Philadelphia Jewish world, and I want others to have it too.” When Sheva thinks back on raising her family, she thinks of a life inseparable from that of the community. Her kids’ Jewish preschool led to Solomon Schechter Day School (now Perelman Jewish Day School) and then, at her son and daughter’s requests, at Akiba Hebrew Academy (now Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy). Summers at Camp Ramah filled out their year.

The Cohens became active synagogue members, and Sheva remembers fondly the Shabbat dinners at neighbors’ homes; the trip to Israel with AJ and Akiba families; her study group; and the time the raccoons got into the Sukkot candy apples she was storing in their garage. Building Jewish community became a passion.

Through volunteering at her synagogue, Sheva helped found the Old York Road Kehillah, one of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s five kehillot. And after years as a strategic planner for hospitals, Sheva brought her talents and passion together by coming to work full-time for the Jewish Federation. For ten years, as manager of the Department for Social Responsibility, Sheva was responsible for planning and allocations for programming for the poor and for older adults.

“Because I worked at the Jewish Federation, I know how we evaluate the programs and their impact. We know we’re giving to programs that are changing people’s lives,” says Sheva. “There’s vigilance and oversight because the leadership, and everyone involved, cares very much that the dollars are used well.” And so when it came time for Sheva to consider her will, she knew where she wanted her charitable bequest to go.

“It was wonderful that all these Jewish resources were here for us. It was a great life for us,” she says of her husband Martin, who passed away in 2010. “If we all give where we live, we will all benefit and keep our Jewish world strong.”