She was 77. Rabbi Cowan learned more than two years ago that she had cancer, and her friends held twice-weekly services of songs, psalms and readings for her. Rabbi Cowan and her husband, Paul Cowan, a writer and reporter for The Village Voice who grew up with little sense of his Jewish heritage, were 1960s civil rights and antiwar activists who began exploring Judaism in their mid-30s. At one point, their synagogue, the once grand but then crumbling Ansche Chesed, housed five small congregations, each with its individual approach to worship and no rabbi. But as the congregations grew and realized rabbis could enhance funerals and weddings and provide counseling, several of its members, including Rabbi Cowan, pursued ordination.

Source: New York Times September 01, 2018 19:18 UTC