Rabbi Larry Freedman is thrilled to be returning home to the ‘burgh where he and Deborah raised their sons Ethan and Lev, made friends and delighted in the community for ten years.
Rabbi Freedman grew up in Plattsburgh, NY, a one synagogue town in northern New York. As a teen he was very involved with WeFTY and Eisner Camp. Rabbi Freedman graduated from Brandeis University and while there he was very involved in the egalitarian minyan in order to learn the Conservative nusach (style) of Shabbat tefillot.
After college where he was a Near Eastern and Judaic Studies major he went off to Hebrew Union College for rabbinical school. He finally learned his grammar in Jerusalem and then took a year off where he volunteered at the Leo Baeck Community Center in Haifa. Back in the US, he loved his two years at the Los Angeles campus of HUC where he was the student rabbi for Chaverim, a group of developmentally delayed adults. He then returned to New York City to finish his studies. While in New York he served two congregations of deaf Jews.
Upon ordination Rabbi Freedman served as the associate rabbi at Temple Sinai of Roslyn (New York) for four years and then as Rabbi-Educator at Temple Sinai over in Squirrel Hill where he realized his passion was working with the youngest members of a congregation. A brief time was spent in Newton, MA and then Rabbi Freedman returned to a customary pulpit position in Newburgh, NY. Rabbi Freedman has been teaching at URJ Crane Lake Camp for the last 11 years for a week each summer teaching spiritual leadership and an honest approach to teaching Israel. He is also a chaplain in the NY Air National Guard holding the rank of Lt. Colonel (as of October, 2019) where, along with the entire chaplain team, he serves six Jews and a thousand others of every religious background.
Rabbi Freedman looks forward to focusing all his rabbinic and educator skills on the J-JEP population including faculty, staff, parents, and of course, the students.