Rabbi Morris Samuel Friedman

From the Congressional Record, April 15, 1996:

RABBI MORRIS S. FRIEDMAN PLANS JUNE RETIREMENT AFTER 46 YEARS IN THE RABBINATE

Mr. D’AMATO. Mr. President, I rise to honor Rabbi Morris S. Friedman of Temple Hillel in North Woodmere, NY, on his retirement after so many years of dedicated service.

In October 1984, Rabbi Friedman welcomed then-President Ronald Reagan to his synagogue, Temple Hillel in North Woodmere, where the President spoke to a packed congregation. Afterwards, Rabbi Friedman hosted the President at his home for lunch. Together they sat, with the rabbi’s wife and children, as well as Secretary of State James Baker and myself.

The visit by President Reagan to Rabbi Friedman’s temple and home was testimony to the influence and cachet of Rabbi Friedman himself, and to the enormous prestige that Temple Hillel amassed over the 33 years of Rabbi Friedman’s leadership. It may have been the first time that a sitting President lunched at the home of a rabbi; but it was not the first time that Rabbi Friedman held conversations with world leaders. From his corner of the world in North Woodmere, Rabbi Friedman has influenced many thousands of lives, those on the world stage and those presiding over the births and deaths and joys and sorrows of a congregation that each year tops 1,000 people.

In June of this year, Rabbi Friedman will retire from the pulpit at Temple Hillel.

‘‘One of my favorite books in the Bible,’’ said Rabbi Friedman when he announced his retirement, ‘‘is the Book of Ecclesiastes. The third chapter begins with a statement, ‘A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under Heaven.’’’

His congregation will honor and pay tribute to him, and to his wife, Mrs. Adelaide Friedman, at a dinner on April 21. ‘‘My years at Hillel are truly a love affair between me and the congregation. The friendship, affection and devotion showered upon me and Addi by the congregation, made my service to the community a privilege, a joy and an exciting spiritual adventure,’’ said Rabbi Friedman, looking back at a 33-year relationship.

It will be one of a long line of testimonial dinners made in his honor, because Rabbi Friedman’s dedication to Jewish causes reached far and wide beyond his own temple. He has been honored by Boy’s Town in Jerusalem; by Bet El, a 13-year-old-settlement in Judea Samaria in Israel; by Touro College’s School of Health Sciences, among others.

He has received numerous awards and much recognition, such as the Zedakah Award from the UJA Federation of Jewish Philanthropies in New York, and the degree of honorary fellow conferred upon him by Bar Ilan University in Israel. The Jewish Theological Seminary of America conferred upon him an honorary doctor of divinity degree in 1975.

His stature in the Jewish community led him to his former, very prestigious, role as the president of the New York Board of Rabbis, the largest rabbinic organization in the world. He was also chairman of the United Jewish AppealFederation Rabbinic Advisory Council. He served for 2 years, as well, as chairman of the Rabbinical Assembly Campaign for the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. For the past 5 years, he has cochaired the Annual Nassau County Dinner for the Shaare-Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Friedman has further enriched the spiritual lives of this congregants by guiding them through Israel on dozens of visits over the years. His own personal travels have taken him to Israel and Europe many times over. But he would be the first to say the true richness of his life comes from the joy and love of his family, his wife Adelaide, his daughter, Naomi, his 2 sons, Mark and David, and his 12 grandchildren.

Mrs. Adelaide Friedman has also greatly enriched the lives of those around her. With degrees in English literature, a bachelor’s from Long Island University and a master’s from Hofstra, Mrs. Friedman taught English literature at the high school level in girls’ yeshivas. She herself has been writing all her life, poetry and short stories, as well as articles and book reviews. Mrs. Friedman wrote a regular, monthly column for the Jewish World several years ago and her book reviews have also appeared in Lifestyles magazine and the quarterly publication for the New York Board of Rabbis. She has had articles published on Jewish subjects in several magazines and periodicals, such as the Algemeiner Journal, a Yiddish newspaper.

Mrs. Friedman taught adult education courses at Temple Hillel on Jewish literature and has given lectures on Jewish women in literature at the Hewlett-Woodmere Library. Her creative talents encompass art as well as writing. She loves to work with oils and pastels and the portraits and stilllifes she has painted hang on the wall of her home and her children’s homes.

But it is her role as a rebbitzen for 46 years that has presented truly great rewards. ‘‘I loved being involved in something bigger than myself,’’ said Mrs. Friedman. ‘‘I loved the idea of connecting with Jewish events as they unrolled and being inspired by lectures and great personalities. It was a very exciting period in my life because I wasn’t only a wife and a mother and eventually a grandmother, much as I enjoyed those roles—and still enjoy those roles, I was also part of what was transpiring among the Jewish people.’’

Before Rabbi and Mrs. Friedman came to North Woodmere, he served in Congregation Beth David in Lynbrook for 13 years as their rabbi. He had been ordained by the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York and had received a master of Hebrew literature degree and a BA degree from Long Island University.

Temple Hillel will say goodbye to Rabbi Friedman this June with much reluctance. But the congregation knows he will continue to be nearby to offer his guidance and wisdom for years to come, as the rabbi emeritus of Temple Hillel. It is a guidance that has taken Temple Hillel to great heights. Said Rabbi Friedman, ‘‘I feel, without any hesitation, that we have achieved stardom in the galaxy of Conservative Congregations in the New York Area, and even worldwide!