page_title: Francis Lyon Cohen
section_title: Great Synagogue in Sydney
hierarchical_section_title: Francis Lyon Cohen / Great Synagogue in Sydney
caption_attribution_description: English: The Great Synagogue, Elizabeth Street, Sydney, Australia
context_page_description: Rev Francis Lyon Cohen VD was an English Orthodox rabbi, author and expert on Hebrew music, being the music editor of The Jewish Encyclopedia. The Jewish Lads' Brigade was his brainchild. He was the first Jewish chaplain in the British Army, a position he held from 1892 to 1904 when he was succeeded by Rev Michael Adler. Cohen ended his career as Chief Minister of the Great Synagogue in Sydney, Australia.
context_section_description: Wishing for a new challenge in 1904 Cohen was appointed as Chief Minister of the Great Synagogue in Sydney, the mother congregation of Jewry in Australia. Before leaving Britain for this new role Cohen had to attain full rabbinical qualifications so that he could lead the Sydney Beth Din but he did not find it easy to gain them as obstacles were placed in his way, perhaps out of jealousy at his previous achievements or perhaps out of suspicion that in some areas of his ministry he had not been a strict traditionalist. In the Great Synagogue he was to show that the suspicion was correct.
  Eventually Cohen gained the necessary rabbinical qualifications and on settling in Sydney in 1905 with his family he was the first and, for most of his ministry, the only minister in Sydney with semikhah. The Jewish population of Sydney was about 4,000, with about 700 regularly attending the Great Synagogue. Cohen was opposed to Zionism and, despite the origins of his own parents, to Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe. He early gave an indication of his stance by referring to "the extremes" of Orthodoxy and Reform, and stating his belief that his congregation stood "perhaps midway between the extremes". He was not opposed to the continuation of the mixed choir nor to the removal of the bimah from its central position to a place near the Ark to accommodate more seats. In 1907 he introduced the military Hanukkah service he had pioneered in Britain and which continued for several years.
  During his nearly thirty years as Chief Minister of the Great Synagogue Cohen was active in all facets of Jewish life including being President of the New South Wales Board of Jewish Education, a founder of the New South Wales Jewish War Memorial and being involved in developing suburban synagogues. He worked for such philanthropic institutions as the Chevra Kadisha, the Sir Moses Montefiore Home for the aged and the local branch of the Anglo-Jewish Association; he was also involved in the Jewish Literary and Debating Society of Sydney. In 1928 he published the Jubilee History of the Great Synagogue, Sydney. He was an active Freemason.
  Having grown up in Aldershot surrounded as a boy by the pomp and pageantry of mid-Victorian military life Cohen never lost his great love for the Army and patriotism for Empire and was described by Rabbi Raymond Apple as "the passionate patriot"  and as "A tireless promoter of the model 'Anglo-Jewish gentleman', one proudly loyal to his ancestral religion yet fully and patriotically integrated into wider society..." He joined the Australian National Defence League and was appointed chaplain of the Australian Military Forces in 1909. During World War I he was vice-president of the Universal Service League and encouraged Jews to enlist in the Australian militias and strongly supported conscription. In 1929 he was awarded the Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration (VD).
  Francis Lyon Cohen died of cancer in hospital at Potts Point in Sydney in 1934 aged 71 and was buried in Rookwood Cemetery, Rookwood,  Sydney, New South Wales. His wife Rose, who had been very involved in the Jewish community in Sydney, died the same year. They were survived by a daughter, and by two sons who served overseas during the First World War with the Australian Imperial Force.
caption: Cohen was Chief Minister of the Great Synagogue in Sydney for nearly 30 years
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