David Cohen

David Cohen was born in 1887 in Maišiagala

Cohen was born in 1887 in Maišiagala, near Vilna, to a rabbinic family. His father, Rabbi Yosef Yozpa Kagan, was the town's rabbi. As a boy he studied in Radin at his grandfather's home.

He studied at the yeshivas of Volozhin, Radin under Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, and Slabodka. In 1909 he began studying at Baron Guenzburg's Academy for Jewish Studies in St. Petersburg, where Zalman Shazar was a fellow student. He then studied philosophy at the University of Freiburg, and after World War I broke out he continued at the University of Basel.

In 1915 he met Rabbi Kook in St. Gallen and decided to devote himself to Jewish thought. During that period he took a lifelong Nazirite vow, became vegetarian and kept regular silence vows. He spoke only Hebrew.

In 1922 Rabbi Kook invited him to teach at his yeshiva in the Land of Israel, where he lectured on Talmud, ethics and philosophy. He edited Rabbi Kook's philosophical works and left over 30 works in manuscript. The first volume of his book Kol Nevu'ah appeared shortly before his death.

He married his cousin Sarah Etkin. Their daughter Zfia married Rabbi Shlomo Goren, and their son She'ar Yashuv Cohen became chief rabbi of Haifa. He died on 8 August 1972 and was buried on the Mount of Olives.