Joan Friedman
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Joan Friedman became the first woman to serve as a rabbi in Canada in 1980, when she was appointed as an Assistant Rabbi at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto.[1] Her appointment was followed shortly after by that of Elyse Goldstein as Assistant Rabbi from 1983-1986; Goldstein has been called the first female rabbi in Canada, but that is incorrect.[2][3]
Friedman was ordained in 1980 (before she began as an Assistant Rabbi at Holy Blossom Temple) by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.[4] Later she was named solo rabbi at B’nai Israel in Laconia, New Hampshire.[5] She also worked as the Jewish chaplain at Colgate University for six years, as a congregational rabbi in Bloomington, Indiana for five years, and on the faculties of Colgate and American Universities.[6] As of 2003, she was the associate chaplain for Jewish and interfaith life and coordinator of the Program in Ethical Reflection at Carleton College.[6] As of 2016, she was Associate Professor of History and Religious Studies and Chair of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the College of Wooster.[7]
She studied at the University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate, and earned master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Jewish history from Columbia University.[6] She received her Ph.D. in 2002, and her dissertation was entitled "Solomon B. Freehof, the ‘Reform Responsa,’ and the Shaping of American Reform Judaism."[6]
- 2013-2014 Bernard and Audrey Rapoport Fellowship, Jacob Marcus Center, American Jewish Archives[7]
- 2013 National Jewish Book Award Finalist, "Guidance, Not Governance": Rabbi Solomon B. Freehof and Reform Responsa[7]
- Luce Award (College of Wooster, F 2009)[7]
- Fellow, Center for Israel and Jewish Studies, Columbia University (2001–02)[7]
- Dissertation fellowship - Jewish Foundation for Education of Women Fellowship/National Foundation for Jewish Culture (2000–01)[7]
- Bernard and Audrey Rapoport Fellowship, Jacob Marcus Center, American Jewish Archives (2000–01)[7]
- IREX Research Exchange Scholar, Charles University, Prague, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1988–89)[7]
- American Academy of Religion[7]
- Association for Jewish Studies[7]
- Midwest Jewish Studies Association[7]
- Central Conference of American Rabbis, Board of Trustees, 2006–08; Responsa Committee, 1994–99; corresponding member 1999-current (as of 2016); Committee on Reform[7]
- Women's Rabbinic Network, founding member; co-coordinator, 1991-3[7]
