Corey Friedlander Bio

Corey Friedlander (he/him), our Shaliach Kehilah (literally “messenger to the community”), can be seen leading services, life cycle rituals, and supporting our community and our clergy. He fondly remembers the influence of his beloved Rabbi Bernard Zlotowitz (z”l) at Union Reform Temple in Freeport, Long Island, where Corey was president of his temple youth group and active in LIFTY (now part of NFTY-NAR). Corey majored in Germanic Languages and Literatures and was a varsity fencer at Yale University, from which he was graduated magna cum laude with honors in the major eight years after entering, taking time off twice to learn the important lesson that being perfect was not a requirement for graduation or for life. During his time off, Corey worked in import-export and, dealing mainly with Latin America, added Portuguese to his knowledge of German and Spanish. Corey is currently a vice president at his employer of nearly forty years, a manufacturer of construction fasteners, having taken time off in the bookselling industry to manage bookstores in Tarrytown and Riverdale and to work as the Director of Professional Development and Education at the American Booksellers Association. Corey feels blessed to have found Woodlands as his spiritual home in 1996 and exceedingly grateful to have participated in the Shaliach Kehilah program, a joint two-year training program of the URJ, CCAR, and HUC-JIR that included intensive summer study at the seminary in Cincinnati, additional coursework, and rabbinic mentoring. Corey was certified in 2005 and has been joyfully serving the WCT congregation ever since!