Bogen was born on July 25, 1869, in
Moscow,
Russia, the son of David Katzenelenbogen and Lina Meerowitz. He immigrated to America shortly after graduating from the
University of Moscow in 1888. He settled in
New York City, New York, and studied English at the
Educational Alliance, where he later became a librarian and teacher. Bogen attended the
New York University School of Pedagogy, graduating from there with a Pd.M. in 1895 and a Pd.D. in 1898. He worked as an instructor at the Baron de Hirsch Trade School from 1894 to 1896, a teacher at the
Hebrew Technical Institute from 1896 to 1900, and principal of the Baron de Hirsch Agricultural School in
Woodbine, New Jersey, from 1900 to 1904. He left the Hebrew Technical Institute due to his objections to its pure Americanism emphasis, and when he joined the Bar de Hirsch Agricultural School he hoped he'd be able to help young Jews leave the sweatshop and become farmers. However, the students proved more interested in the administrative and scientific sides of agriculture, and he dissented with the directors and their efforts to reduce the study length from three years to one and to eliminate the scientific components to encourage the students to work in the fields. While working there, he persuaded the state legislature to establish a municipal government in Woodbine and make people in the local Jewish farm colony more conscious of their citizenship. Bogen then worked as director of the United Jewish Charities in
Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1904 to 1910, at which point he became field secretary of the Conference of Jewish Charities. In 1913, he was also appointed field agent of the National Conference of Jewish Social Service. During
World War I, he was director-general of the
Joint Distribution Committee and, via his base of operations in Holland, sent a continuous supply of relief across Germany to suffering Jews in Poland and western Russia. He then went to Poland as an agent of the committee, and while there he travelled with the Hoover mission and organized the distribution of funds American Jews contributed for relief. He then returned to the United States and served as superintendent of the Jewish Charities in
Los Angeles, California. He was appointed international secretary of
B'nai B'rith in 1925 and held that office until his death. B'nai B'rith later established in his memory the Boris D. Bogen-Isaac M. Rubinow forest in
Palestine. In 1926, he received an honorary Doctor of Law degree from
Hebrew Union College. A month before his death, he was elected president of the National Conference of Jewish Social Service. He was also managing editor of ''B'nai B'rith Magazine
and wrote Jewish Philanthropy in the United States
in 1917. His book Born a Jew'' was published posthumously in 1930. ==Personal life==