Rabbi Samuel M. Cohon served as Senior Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El of Tucson from 1999-2017 and brought vigor, excellence, depth and joy to Arizona's historic first congregation.  Rabbi Cohon's warmth, rich heritage and expansive knowledge of Judaism dramatically enhanced the Temple's congregational life and made him a speaker and instructor in demand in his community and nationally. During this time, he spearheaded an outreach effort to unaffiliated Jews in Southern Arizona, including the enormously popular Taste of Judaism series with over 6000 students and the Northwest Outreach Shabbat program. The Conversion Program he developed brought more than 250 Jews-by-Choice to Judaism. He expanded worship offerings to include regular Shabbat Rocks!, Kabbalistic, Downtown and Simply Shabbat services, as well as monthly Wandering Jews’ Hike Shabbat services. His Zohar Study Group was the first of its kind in the country to examine the greatest text of Kabbalah in the new Danny Matt translation (documented in Time magazine) and it continues in its 14th year of deep study of mysticism. He led four Pilgrimages to Israel from his congregation, including an interfaith pilgrimage with St. Philips in the Hills Episcopal Church. He helped Temple Emanu-El increase in membership from 350 to 700 families during his tenure, and dramatically renewed enthusiasm, involvement and commitment among congregational members.

A trained Conservative Hazzan, Rabbi Cohon has also recorded 4 commercially-released CD’s of Jewish music, and edited and co-authored the popular Promise Haggadah and the Shabbat Reflections family prayer book, both in print. He is the author of the upcoming book A Vagabond Journey to the Holiest Places on Earth, about his sabbatical travel literally around the world to 148 of the holiest places of all religions over the course of 85 days.

The "Too Jewish Radio Show with Rabbi Sam Cohon and Friends" is an hour-long show that airs weekly on Sundays on KVOI 1030 AM in Tucson and throughout the state and is now in its 17th year. It is one of the top-rated Jewish podcasts nationally at www.toojewishradio.com and on iTunes. The roster of guests have included Elie Wiesel, Ehud Barak, Neil Sedaka, Gabrielle Giffords, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Rabbi Harold Kushner and many other prominent Jews. In July 2016 Moment Magazine cited “Too Jewish” as a top 10 Jewish podcast in America.

A graduate of UCLA, Rabbi Cohon became a certified Conservative cantor in 1987, serving congregations in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara for seven years before returning to seminary and being ordained at Hebrew Union College in 1995, where his first permanent position was as the rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He is a third generation rabbi, following his grandfather who taught at Hebrew Union College for 35 years and authored the Columbus platform of the Reform movement, and his father, a prominent cantor at Reform and Conservative congregations and now an Orthodox rabbi.

Rabbi Cohon has two sons, Boaz and Gabriel and a daughter, Cipora. He has completed two Tour de Tucson century cycle races and the Tucson Marathon, and remains personally dedicated to the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the World Series for the first time in 30 years, but this may require God’s help.