Nottingham grad Josh Cohen elected president of World Union of Jewish Students

A former Nottingham JSoc president has been elected as the president of the World Union of Jewish Students.

Josh Cohen, 22, born and raised in north London, will lead the umbrella organisation, which oversees approximately 800,000 Jewish students from some 40 member unions around the world, for a term of two years.

Having previously held roles at the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Mizrachi UK, Bnei Akiva and the Holocaust Educational Trust, where he engaged with MPs to advance Holocaust remembrance, Cohen is currently UJS’ campaigns and Jewish enrichment and engagement officer

He told the JC: “I was brought up in a culture and community, where leadership was just something you did. The people I looked up to growing up were madrichim and youth leaders at my shul. Even my parents met as co-chairs of their JSoc.”

As president of Nottingham JSoc, which included both Nottingham University and Nottingham Trent, he helped to “revitalise” Jewish life on campus post-Covid. “I inherited a JSoc that was struggling in the wake of Covid. The students were looking for something. They wanted that source of connection, but the infrastructure and culture in Nottingham weren’t there.

“But I’m proud to say that we went from finding it difficult to get people to turn up to events to becoming one of the strongest JSocs in the country, with over 1,000 Jewish students now on campus.

Josh Cohen (left) with other Jewish student leaders[Missing Credit]

“We had lots of support from UJS to grow that infrastructure, and to a big extent, the work I did as JSoc president led me to wanting to become a sabbatical officer at UJS and to work with other JSocs around the country.”

In his current role at UJS, Cohen has learnt that “no two communities are alike and nor should they be treated as such.My approach has always been about listening first, to understand the unique needs of each community, and collaborating to create meaningful solutions that enable them to thrive.”

Despite having lots of experience working at and with membership unions, Cohen says he came onto the WUJS scene as a “relative outsider”, with his campaign manifesto running on advancing “unity, advocacy, and accountability” within the global body.

Succeeding against incumbent WUJS president, Yana Naftalieva, Cohen won the delegate-based election, made up of leaders from all the represented unions. He will now follow in the steps of former WUJS presidents such as Albert Einstein and David Ben-Gurion.

The member unions themselves support students under their care, and it is the role of WUJS to support the unions, working to unite and represent independent Jewish associations throughout the world.

Josh Cohen (on podium, left)[Missing Credit]

UJS, which represents 9,000 students and 80 societies across the UK and Ireland, and is one of the largest and oldest member unions, holds a permanent position on the WUJS board.

As part of his new appointment, Cohen will be moving to Israel in May. “I’m very excited to both be elected to the role and to live in Israel,” he said. “Moving there was vaguely in my plans anyway, and it’s something I’m very keen on, so I’m very much looking forward to it. It’s a perk of the job.”

Despite his move, Cohen doesn’t intend to spend a huge amount of time in the country.“Jerusalem is the base and the centre of operations, but I’ll be supporting students on the ground wherever they are, and that’s something I’ve committed to in my manifesto. I won’t just be sitting in Jerusalem with occasional Zoom calls. I’ll be attending as many university conferences and summits as I can to ensure that up-and-coming Jewish life around the world is as strong and unified as it can be,” he said.

Cohen is the seventh Brit to be elected, the last being Yos Tarshish who was WUJS president from 2016 to 2018.