Recently, I lost one of the most important teachers I’ve ever had and the Penn community, as well as the larger world of Jewish Studies, has lost a giant. Sol Cohen was an Orthodox rabbi and semitic philologist—a deeply learned person. I studied rabbinics with him for fourteen years. He died on Friday, January 3, following complications from surgery.

The Katz Center shares the sad news that Dr. Sol Cohen passed away on January 3, 2025. Until a few years ago, Sol served as an associate visiting scholar and resources person at the Katz Center, after serving for many decades as a professor of Assyriology at Dropsie College, the Center's predecessor institution.