Identity, Community and Prayer

Prayer Talk Video

Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove reflects on prayer as a constitutive part of his identity, and community as a constitutive part of prayer.

Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove, Ph.D., a leading voice in the Conservative Movement, began his tenure at Park Avenue Synagogue in 2008. Ordained at The Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Cosgrove earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His dissertation on Rabbi Louis Jacobs, a leading Anglo-Jewish theologian of the 20th century, reflects his passion for the intersection of Jewish scholarship and faith. Rabbi Cosgrove is the author of five collections of selected sermons, including Hineni (2012), and A Place to Lodge (2013). He is also the editor of Jewish Theology in Our Time: A New Generation Explores the Foundations and Future of Jewish Belief (Jewish Lights), hailed as a provocative and inspiring collection of essays by leading rabbis and scholars.

​In addition, Rabbi Cosgrove sits on the Chancellor's Cabinet of JTS and on the Editorial Board of Conservative Judaism. A member of the Executive Committee of the Rabbinical Assembly, he is also an officer of the New York Board of Rabbis and a member of the Board of UJA-Federation of New York. He serves as Rabbinical Advisor on Interfaith Affairs for the ADL and he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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