Two New York City rabbis die, both diagnosed with coronavirus
Rabbi Romi Cohn gives the opening prayer at the House of Representatives, January 29, 2020. Image by Congressman Max Rose/YouTube
By Aiden Pink March 24, 2020
Two New York City rabbis have died, both diagnosed with coronavirus.
Rabbi Romi Cohn of Staten Island, a 92-year-old and Holocaust survivor who had fought as a partisan in World War II, succumbed to the disease, the website The Yeshiva World reported.
Cohn was also a mohel who performed thousands of circumcisions free of charge and trained hundreds of mohels himself. He gave the opening prayer at the House of Representatives in January on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
NY: BD”E, R’ Yaakov Meltzer z”l, a member of Queens Hatzolah for more than 35 years passes away from the #coronavirus, he was only 60 years old pic.twitter.com/8TddyoSkZp
— Yiddish News (@YiddishNews) March 24, 2020
Rabbi Yaakov Meltzer of Queens also died; he’d been diagnosed with the virus but died because of other factors, The Yeshiva World reported.
Meltzer, 60, was also a physician assistant and was a member of the Queens Hatzolah, the local Jewish volunteer paramedic organization, for 35 years, according to Yeshiva World. Family members told the organization that Meltzer also had a heart condition.
As a public service during this pandemic, the Forward is providing free, unlimited access to all coronavirus articles. If you’d like to support our independent Jewish journalism, click here.
Some 125 New York City residents have died of the coronavirus, city officials said Monday. Jewish communities throughout the state have seen clusters of outbreaks.
Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at pink@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink
Correction, March 24, 1:49 p.m.: A previous version of this story cited another source which stated that Rabbi Yaakov Meltzer died of coronavirus; he actually died of other factors, although he had been diagnosed with coronavirus as well.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
