Boruch Cohen (then known by the exot­ic name ​“Bruce”) received a B.A. from Wes­leyan Uni­ver­si­ty, fol­lowed by accep­tance to Colum­bia University’s MFA fic­tion pro­gram, when an unex­pect­ed encounter with a col­or­ful rab­bi inspired new aspi­ra­tions: a move to the Rab­bini­cal Col­lege of Amer­i­ca, lead­ing to a 25-year career in Jew­ish out­reach, and the pub­li­ca­tion of his first book.