Manis Friedman

Manis Friedman (2009)

Manis Friedman (full name: Menachem Manis HaKohen Friedman; born 1946) is a Chabad Lubavitch Hassid. He is a Shliach, rabbi, author, social philosopher and public speaker. Friedman is also the dean of the Bais Chana Institute of Jewish Studies.

Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1946, Friedman immigrated with his family to the United States in 1951. He received his rabbinic ordination at the Rabbinical College of Canada in 1969. Friedman's first book, Doesn't Anyone Blush Anymore?, was published in 1990. It is currently in its fourth printing.

Manis Friedman's brother is the Jewish singer Avraham Fried.

Activities

In 1971, inspired by the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Friedman cofounded the Bais Chana Women International, an Institute for Jewish Studies in Minnesota for women with little or no formal Jewish education. He has served as the school's dean since its inception.

From 1984-1990, he served as the simultaneous translator for a series of televised talks by the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Friedman briefly served as senior translator for Jewish Educational Media, Inc.

Friedman has lectured in cities throughout the US, as well as London, Hong Kong, Cape Town, and Johannesburg in South Africa, Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, and a number of South and Central American cities.

In the wake of the natural disasters in 2004 and 2005, Friedman authored a practical guide to help rescue and relief workers properly understand and deal with the needs of Jewish survivors.

In 2011 Rabbi Friedman's Bais Chana was ranked third in the Women's Empowerment category by GreatNonprofits. The ranking was based on reviews from former clients of the institute.

Teachings

Though not extensively published in book form, Friedman's teachings have been cited by many authors writing on various secular issues as well as on exclusively Jewish topics.

Friedman has been quoted in:

• Shmuley Boteach, The Private Adam (2005) and Dating Secrets of the Ten Commandments (2001)
• Barbara Becker Holstein, Enchanted Self: A Positive Therapy (1997){cn}
• Angela Payne, Living Every Single Moment: Embrace Your Purpose Now (2004){cn}
• Sylvia Barack Fishman, A Breath of Life: Feminism in the American Jewish Community (1995){cn}

In two separate autobiographies, Playing with Fire: One Woman's Remarkable Odyssey by Tova Mordechai (1991) and Shanda: The Making and Breaking of a Self-Loathing Jew by Neal Karlen (2004), both authors credit Friedman for their own returns to Judaism.

Views on Love, Marriage and Femininity

According to anthropologist Lynn Davidman, Friedman, like many evangelical Christians, stesses the primacy of commitment over emotion in relationships. Davidman quotes Friedman saying that "for a woman to wait to have children is wrong because she is violating herself" and that "birth control is a violent violation of a woman's being". Friedman believes that single women are incomplete, and they should optimally get married at the age of fourteen.

Controversial Comments

Friedman has been accused of claiming that the IDF should kill Arab women and children,, that survivors of child sexual abuse should just get over it, and that the Holocaust had nothing to do with the Nazis.

Published works

• Doesn't Anyone Blush Anymore? Reclaiming Modesty, Intimacy and Sexuality.
• The Relief and Rescue Workers Guide to Judaism - a Rescue Workers Handbook.

External links

• Official website
• Official blog
• A collection of articles and audio classes by Rabbi Manis Friedman
• Ongoing series of lectures in video and audio form