Barry R. Friedman grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania and attended Dickinson College, Carlisle Pennsylvania, where he graduated with a major in philosophy.  His rabbinic studies were at the Cincinnati and Jerusalem campuses of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where he received his B.H.L. and M.A.H.L. degrees and rabbinic ordination and he received his doctoral degrees, Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.), from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) from Hebrew Union College.

Rabbi Friedman has served several congregations in the United States, most recently Temple Adath Bnai Israel, in Evansville, Indiana.  While in Indiana, he taught in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at the University of Evansville and is currently on the teaching faculties of Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis and Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership in Chicago.

Barry moved to Chicago with his wife, Nancy, in 2016 to be near family, loves living in Chicago and is happily enjoying life as “semi-unretired.”