Jack Cohen, a Pittsburgh native, is a 30-year resident of Cranberry Township and has been credited with the start of its annual menorah lighting ceremony at the Cranberry Township Municipal Center to mark Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights.

President of the Butler County Tourism & Convention Bureau, Cohen has spent the past 21 years promoting the county’s benefits and virtues.

Since Cohen announced his July 31 retirement from the bureau, his colleagues and friends have been sharing Cohen’s other longtime effort: promoting his Jewish religion.

The township’s initial menorah lighting ceremony on Dec. 4, 2013, was a joint effort between the Cranberry Township Jewish community and the Chabad of Fox Chapel and Friendship Circle.

“We borrowed one (menorah) from them,” Cohen recalled.

Cohen told the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle at the time of the inaugural lighting, “For me this is my home, and a home without my religious beliefs being part of my community makes it incomplete.

“I have my family here and they have children, and they need to know there are other people who believe the way they do; that will make them feel better about where they live,” Cohen told the Chronicle. “Being Jewish and sharing that with your neighbors is a good thing; finding other Jewish families is also good.”

Although the Cranberry Jewish Community, a group Cohen co-founded, had to bring in a rabbi from the Fox Chapel Chabad for that first menorah lighting, for the last two years the ceremony has been overseen by Rabbi Yossi Feller of the Chabad Jewish Center of Cranberry.

Feller said his organization, Chabad-Lubavitch, cares for the spiritual and material needs of all Jews worldwide.

Feller and his wife, Leah, are Chabad emissaries who have set up the center, which offers adult education classes at a variety of locations in Cranberry Township.

“Jack has been very helpful to us with resources, contacts and advice,” Feller said. “We are working with Jack to bring Jews together, but definitely Jack was a leader in this.”

Feller said eventually the center could be the precursor to a synagogue in the township.

Cohen also was responsible for bringing Sarah Black, a survivor of the Oct. 27, 2018, mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, to one of the menorah lightings.

“Her brother was one of those murdered; it was very difficult for her,” Cohen said of the synagogue shooting that killed 11 and wounded six.

“I knew five of the victims; one was my family doctor,” Cohen added.

Peter Longini, former Cranberry Township communications director, said he has known Cohen since Cohen ran his restaurant, Safari Sam’s, in the township.

“I have a huge regard for Jack,” he said. “He is a leader in ways that are constructive.”

Jerry Andre, retired Cranberry Township manager, has known Cohen since he himself moved into the township in 1991.

“I knew he was a big advocate and supporter of the Jewish presence in the township,” Andrew said. “He’s involved in the promotion of the Jewish faith.”

He said Cohen helped with the logistics and secured a rabbi and the menorah for the initial township ceremony.

“It was his leadership in making that part of our community known,” Andre said.

Cranberry Township has a large Jewish population, according to Cohen.

“Some are mixed marriages. My wife is Catholic, and we celebrate both holidays (Christmas and Hanukkah) together,” he said. “I’ve gone to Mass and the deacon said ‘Thank you for coming to our church’ because he knew I was Jewish.

“My wife goes to the synagogue with me. Our children grew up and learned both religions,” he said.

“I speak about my religion openly and freely, and everybody should do that. I’m proud of my Jewish heritage,” Cohen said.

“It is important to me, my religion. It’s part of who I am. It teaches you to be kind, to do things correctly and right and just to be a good human,” he said.