MEHADRIN CLASS OF 2000 FOR 25 YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE JEWISH COMMUNITY
RABBI CANTOR ROBERT FREEDMAN
RABBI PAUL GORDON
I began my professional career in 1974 as a freelance baritone in Toronto, singing with the Festival Singers of Canada, with the Canadian Opera Company, with CBC radio, and as a soloist with orchestras and choirs, churches and synagogues. In 1981 I began cantorial studies at HUC- JIR in New York, attaining investiture in 1985. In 1982 I was invited to be the first fulltime cantor of the Jewish Center of Princeton, New Jersey, serving there until 1996, when I resigned to enter the rabbinical program at the Academy for Jewish Religion. While studying I was also the first Jewish chaplain for the Princeton Medical Center. Major influences in my spiritual life during that time and later were my studies with Rabbi Zalman Schachter and other teachers in the Jewish Renewal movement.
Upon ordination in 2000 I was invited to be the rabbi of Israel Congregation in Manchester, Vermont, serving there until 2007 when my wife Sally and I moved back to Princeton. From 2009 until 2018 I commuted to Philadelphia to be cantor and assistant rabbi for Society Hill Synagogue, and from 2009 until 2019 I taught Introduction to Classical Hebrew for the Aleph Ordination Program. In 2013 I resumed my position as staff chaplain and rabbi at the Medical Center of Princeton, retiring in 2024. Now I live a leisurely life in Princeton with Sally, enjoying study, travel, and pickleball.
For the past 13 years I have served as a correctional chaplain for the California Department Of Corrections and Rehabilitation. There I serve a diverse community that encompasses people from a variety of faith groups.
Additionally, I’ m currently the consulting rabbi for Jewish Family services in Central California and assist with Congregation Beth Jacob in Fresno.
My previous pulpits have included congregational positions at synagogues throughout California including Congregation Beth Shalom in Modesto, Congregation B’ nai Jacob in Bakersfield and as a Family Educator in Redwood City.
As a student rabbi I also had the opportunity to serve communities in Keene, New Hampshire and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
32 AJR 2025