People, places and patience: those are the three things one needs, Harlan Cohen says, when transitioning to a new situation or stage of life.

Cohen, the New York Times bestselling author of “The Naked Roommate” and one of the few male syndicated advice columnists, brought his TEDx talk to the Lehigh Valley at the Jewish Federation’s Main Event on Nov. 9.

He spoke to the 200 people in attendance about how to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. He focused on situations that audience members had faced or were facing, like emigrating to a new country, entering college and having a baby.

Before the main program, Cohen enjoyed a falafel dinner with 30 high schoolers and offered them advice on their forthcoming college experience. The dinner was sponsored by the Ray and Bonnie Singer Education Fund at Congregation Keneseth Israel, which hosted the event.

Bennett Maserati of Allentown sponsored The Main Event, which supported the Federation’s 2018 Annual Campaign for Jewish Needs. The Federation also announced for the first time at the event that all new gifts and increases to the campaign will be matched dollar for dollar this year, thanks to the generosity of Lewis and Roberta Gaines.