Rabbi Phil M. Cohen, PhD
Rabbi, Writer, and Podcaster
All real living is meeting.
- Martin Buber
About Phil
Phil M. Cohen is a rabbi, writer, and podcaster interested in the ways Jewish ideas and stories continue to shape contemporary life.
He is the creator and host of The Rabbi Podcast, a series of conversations with Israeli rabbis about their lives, paths to the rabbinate, and the questions they wrestle with in their work and in tIsraeli society. The podcast offers listeners a window into the diverse worlds of Jewish religious life in Israel.
Phil is also the author of the novel Nick Bones Underground and numerous published short stories. Whether interviewing rabbis or writing fiction, he approaches his subjects with curiosity, humor, and a seriousness about the questions that animate Jewish life.
Photo credit: Ivan Cutler
Podcasts
The Rabbi Podcast
Israeli rabbis share personal stories of faith, resilience, and leadership. Recorded during wartime, each episode offers a human look at Jewish life in Israel today.
Making Aliyah Podcast
Conversations with new immigrants to Israel, documenting personal stories of Aliyah, adjustment, identity, and the lived experience of building a new life.
Conversations on faith, identity, and life in Israel
Photo credit: David Lancaster
Published
Work
Nick Bones Underground
A Novel
In a crumbling near-future New York, religion professor-turned-detective Nick “Bones” Friedman is pulled into a dangerous search for a missing friend whose invention may have changed the world. Guided by Maggie, his sarcastic, shape-shifting AI companion, Nick plunges into the strange society thriving beneath the city’s abandoned subways.
Along the way he encounters cult leaders, rogue machines, powerful drugs, and characters as hilarious as they are dangerous. Blending sharp Jewish wit, speculative science fiction, and noir-style mystery, Nick Bones Underground is a thrilling and thought-provoking ride.
What Critics are Saying
One of the most imaginatively drawn and Jewish well-informed novels that I've read in a long time...An engaging read from first page to last!"
- Alvin H. Rosenfeld, Professor of English and Jewish Studies, Indiana University
If you're a mystery buff as I am, and enjoy the unlikely twists of a good story, muscled by irony, zany yet familiar characters, and the expertise of an author intimate with the humor that has kept Jewish life vibrant for centuries, you will love this book."
- Julie Brickman, author of Two Deserts: Stories
Cover art by Michal Koren
LUCKY 13
E-BOOK: A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES
Lucky 13 is a collection of thirteen inventive stories blending memoir, flash fiction, sci-fi, and biblical reimagining. From Brooklyn bike rides to dystopian courtrooms, Cohen's sharply crafted tales combine wit, imagination, and emotional depth, offering readers moments that entertain, provoke thought, and linger.