Moshe (Morris) Cotel (February 20, 1943 – October 24, 2008) was a pianist and composer whose music was strongly influenced by his Jewish roots.
Cotel moved from his Jewish roots to focus on music for most of his life, and received his rabbinic ordination and synagogue pulpit in the years before his death.
[1] In anticipation of a trip to Germany and Austria for performances of his opera Dreyfus, Cotel engaged the assistance of a Holocaust survivor from Washington Heights, Manhattan to help improve his German language skills.
Cotel later met the same woman, who told him that hearing his efforts to spread the story of Alfred Dreyfus had convinced her to return to Judaism.
[1] Rabbi Cotel spent his last five years before his death as spiritual leader of Temple Beth El of Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn.
Cotel died of natural causes on October 24, 2008, at age 65 in his apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan home.