Gerson Cohen served as the fifth chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the intellectual and religious center of Conservative Judaism. In 1983, under Cohen’s tenure and leadership, the Seminary made the historic decision to ordain women as rabbis. In this interview, which took place a year before this decision, Cohen relates his view on the subject of ordaining women and recalls the passionate debate that ensued. In addition to his position at JTS, Cohen held a wide range of positions within the Jewish world, including as a member on the President’s Commission on the Holocaust; and on the Board of Directors of the Jewish Publication Society, the Leo Baeck Institute, the Conference on Jewish Social Studies, and the Alliance Israelite Universelle.