Berkeley’s ‘Queen Ester’ leaving to study Torah in Israel

The 30-year-old Berkeley resident has earned an Able-Bodied Seaman's certificate from the Coast Guard, has worked as a first mate, writes and performs Jewish rap music, and will soon be off to study Torah and halachah for a year in Israel.

Hardly the resume you'd expect from a yeshiva bocher. But things are not always what they seem.

Friedman will arrive in Israel Sept. 1 to begin her year of study. She is the first recipient of a $1,000 Derek Israel Memorial Scholarship.

Israel, an activist in the East Bay and San Francisco Jewish communities, died nearly three years ago in a race-car accident at the age of 28. The fund established in his memory was created to provide financial assistance for study at Orthodox educational institutions in Israel, and is administered by the Jewish Community Foundation of the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay.

"I am extremely honored to be going to Israel on this scholarship," Friedman said. "I'm not just going for myself, I'm going in [Derek Israel's] merit -- to go and learn. So in a sense I'm learning for both of us. And I'm also being supported by the entire community. It's an amazing feeling."

Friedman has selected Nishmat, a yeshiva in Jerusalem, for her studies. "I chose it because it's a center for advanced Jewish study for women," she said.

Nishmat is unique in that it was created for women. According to Friedman, most Orthodox women's centers are affiliated with men's yeshivas, with the courses for women added secondarily. But at Nishmat, she said, "They have beginning levels and also have women who are studying at very high levels. It's not just a place where someone goes after college for just a year and then leaves. These are people who are devoting a number of years to being educated Jewishly."

And Friedman is on her way to becoming one of these women.

After her 1994 graduation from Humboldt State University, she went to Israel and studied for eight months at Sharei Bina in Safed, followed by a year at Nishmat. During the past year she's continued her studies at Beit Midrash Ohr Hachaim in Berkeley. She completed a three-week intensive Hebrew course this summer at the University of San Francisco, and has taught Hebrew at Oakland's Temple Sinai and Temple Beth Abraham.

Friedman grew up in San Francisco. She describes her early Jewish education as being of the "New Age" variety.

In fact, "I'm still New Age," said Friedman, who is a member of Orthodox Congregation Beth Israel in Berkeley. She said that becoming more observant is part of her "transformation, a continuation on the journey. I'm just incorporating everything I've learned along the way."

Her journey is an interesting one, religiously as well as professionally. As a first officer for Hornblower Dining Yachts, for example, she has been out at sea for a week at a time, without sacrificing her religious practices.

And last summer, when she worked on the Heritage of Miami and helped run the Florida sea-based High Adventure Sea Exploring program teaching Boy Scouts how to sail, she kept kosher and only did minimal work on Shabbat.

"I talked with the captain beforehand," said Friedman. "She was very accommodating." Friedman also discovered it was a good opportunity to educate some of her young charges.

"A number of Scouts said, 'You're the first Jew I ever met.' They had a lot of questions. People were very respectful and were inspired by my quiet practice."

Another rather unorthodox passion of Friedman's is writing and performing rap music. And even that she ties in with her Judaism.

Along with Jennifer Kantor, they perform as the Queen Ester and Miriam Duo at Jewish celebrations around the Bay Area.

Friedman's rollicking performance as Queen Ester nearly brought down the house last March at Chabad of S.F.'s Purimpallooza party at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. The year before, the good-humored Ester emceed the show. She has participated in the annual Chanukah menorah-lighting ceremony at Union Square, as well.

Her affinity for fun-loving rap gives Friedman something else in common with former Oakland resident Derek Israel, who loved rap and reggae and regularly performed "Jewish rap" on stage at special events in the Bay Area.

Humor aside, though, Friedman is ready for a year of serious study. And beyond that, she's already planning her post-Israel career.

Law school.