Jacob Freedman Collection

Background on Jacob Freedman

A scholar, linguist, and bibliophile, Jacob Freedman (1903-1986) served as Rabbi at Temple Beth-El in Fall River, Mass., during the 1930s and early 1940s, and later at congregations in Pittsfield, Brookline, Springfield, and Stratford, Conn.

Freedman received a BA from Columbia University in Greek, where he was awarded the Romaine Prize, remaining there for an MA before studying to become a rabbi and master of Hebrew Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Active in the Menorah Club at Columbia and Harvard, when he studied there briefly, Freeman was involved in the Zionist student movement and other Jewish student activities, serving as adviser to Jewish students and as director of the Jewish Student House at Columbia as a post-graduate.