Temple B’nai Abraham’s Varied Voices Dedicated to the Memory of Rabbi Barry Friedman, z”l, …Begins with Visits from Candidates Cory A. Booker & Steve Lonegan

Throughout his decades at Temple B’nai Abraham, the late Rabbi Barry Friedman, z”l, the synagogue’s spiritual leader from 1968-1999,  was a strong supporter of Israel, an outspoken advocate for civil rights and a champion of the victims of all kinds of oppression. Rabbi Friedman also believed deeply in the synagogue pulpit as the ultimate open microphone, from which absolute freedom of speech should be practiced, with all points of view welcome. This year, to honor his memory and beginning on his first Yahrzeit, Temple B’nai Abraham will offer Varied Voices. Our six speakers will offer 
diverse opinions on a variety of important topics, each seeking in her or his own voice to offer a path toward the betterment of the Jewish world and the world at large. Rabbi Friedman taught that the first step in progress was to listen, and then to engage. Varied Voices, we hope, will honor his memory by doing just what he prescribed.

Rabbi Friedman cherished the idea of the pulpit as an open forum, and so it is appropriate that our first two speakers to visit TBA will be Cory  A. Booker, on Sunday September 29, at 7:00 PM and SteveLonegan on Sunday October 6, at 11:00 AM, the Democratic and Republican candidates in the upcoming special election to the United States Senate. This event is in collaboration with the Community Relations Committee of Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ

The other speakers will be: on November 19  Gershom Gorenberg, Israeli historian, journalist and blogger, specializing in Middle Eastern politics and the interaction of religion and politics;  on March 11, Wendy Zierler, Professor of Feminist  Studies and Modern Jewish Literature at HUC-JIR; April 24, Mitchell Reiss, leading terrorism expert, Bush White House foreign policy advisor, President of Washington College and on May 8 Sarah Benor, linguist, on the faculty of USC and HUC. For topics and times, visit, http://www.tbanj.org/congregational-learning/varied-voices.

All the Varied Voices programs are free and open to the community, and are held at the temple located at 300 E Northfield Road, Livingston, New Jersey. Register online at www.tbanj.org or contact the Temple office, 973.994.2290.