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reads, “Jesus the Messiah, Redeemer of Israel.”
The History of
Chosen People Ministries
Rabbi Cohn’s story
In 1862, in the ghetto of the little town of Berenza in eastern Hungary, a family of Orthodox Jews
joyfully welcomed a new son, Leopold Cohn, whose destiny would become interwoven with
the future of Jewish people across two continents. At the tender age of seven years old,
Leopold lost both of his parents, and he and his sister became orphans. This tragic loss, combined
with the loneliness and isolation of ghetto life, caused Leopold to cry out to God for help and
comfort. The Lord answered Leopold’s prayers and guided his steps throughout the rest of his
childhood and as a young adult, providing an illustrious rabbinic career and a wife named Rose, a
beautiful, accomplished woman from a wealthy Jewish family.
However, tragedy struck again in 1881 when Leopold’s father-in-law died unexpectedly,
only one year after his wedding. Leopold again cried out to God, and also began fervently
searching the scriptures about the Messiah—who He was and when He was coming. During
this time, Messianic expectations were high. Jewish people everywhere were hungrily
searching for the Messiah and thought He could be alive and living in another part of the
world at that very moment, like a long-lost relative.
The Chosen People | JULY 2019 7