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Yehoshua “Josh” Friedman grew up in Borough Park, a Hasidic Jewish enclave in Brooklyn, New York, as the oldest child in a family of six. He studied for his bachelor’s degree in Talmudic law at Ner Israel Rabbinical College, just outside Baltimore, and trained and was ordained as a rabbi after his graduation.
But a few years later, he started down a new path — receiving a master’s degree in education from Johns Hopkins University, then starting at Harvard Law School in 2023.
“He loved to help people — from the early get-go, a very dedicated individual,” said Friedman’s father, Moshe Friedman, “and didn’t take no for an answer. He didn’t shy away from new adventures, new challenges.”
Josh Friedman, a rising third-year student at Harvard Law School, died in August. He was in his mid-twenties.
“Josh was really just an incredible human being who brought so much light to the school and to all of his relationships and overcame so many barriers to be where he was,” said his friend Georgia K. Caras, a third-year HLS student. “He has been sorely missed on campus, and I think he will be missed forever.”
It was at Ner Israel that Josh Friedman met Alexander J. Friedman, another student in Baltimore, who would later join him at HLS. Alex Friedman recalled hearing how Josh Friedman stood out from other students while debating ancient Jewish texts, catching the attention of Ner Israel’s dean, who chose Josh Friedman to mentor and personally teach.
“He already had, I would say, such a fire in him to learn and grow,” Alex Friedman said.
Alex Friedman said Josh excelled at HLS from the beginning — even while coming from a background that was shared by very few of his peers.
“The Hasidic community in Brooklyn, it’s very insular,” Alex Friedman said. “It’s a very warm and loving community, but it’s not always encouraging people to go to the outside world and go to a place like Harvard.”
Josh’s family was “very proud” that they had a son who attended Harvard Law School, Alex Friedman said.
Several of Friedman’s friends said he found it difficult, at times, to connect with a student body that grew up almost entirely outside of the Hasidic traditions he was raised in. But Alex Friedman said that Josh Friedman “didn’t mind that he had a different type of background from anyone else — he still had a desire to learn.”
Friedman’s friends remembered him as a clever student and a bright conversationalist.
“He was always the sharpest tool in the shed. He always knew what to say, had a quick line, always ready to make people smile,” Yehuda M. Dachs said.
Friedman was a good person to share a joke with, Dachs added, because “you know that he would appreciate it and probably have something to come right back at you.”
Though Friedman was a focused student, he would sometimes multitask during lectures, bringing a large laptop to class to play professional poker, according to Caras. Professors at the Law School make a point to cold call students — and Caras said that Friedman would “ace his answer to the question, while literally playing a game of poker.”
Friedman knew when he started at HLS that he wanted to work in tax law after graduating. The plan made sense for a young scholar with a background in the complex texts of Talmudic law and a joy in solving problems, Alex Friedman said.
“Tax is very much a type of law where you have to think of interesting concepts, and you have to figure out ways to make things work right, and fit within the system, but also have flexible avenues for the deal you want to do,” Alex Friedman said.
At the Law School, Josh Friedman quickly became involved in the Jewish Law Student Association and Harvard Chabad, becoming “a real integral part” of the Jewish communities on campus, according to Alex Friedman.
Layla M. Galeck, a friend from Friedman’s 1L section, said that she first met Friedman before classes started during their first year at HLS, in a Slack channel for incoming students. She mentioned in the channel that she was taking a Yiddish class at Harvard.
“And someone wrote back to me, and they were like, ‘Yiddish is my first language,’” Galeck said. “It was Josh, and he ended up getting my number.”
Alex Friedman, who is JLSA president, said that Josh Friedman showed up to every event for the club, where he would offer to help carry things and set up.
“Everyone else around him felt that he was a part of the community and that’s why his loss was so felt,” Alex Friedman said. “He was such an active presence that it was noticeable when we came back and he wasn’t around.”
In an August email to Law School faculty and students, HLS Dean John C.P. Goldberg wrote that “Josh put his heart and soul into everything he did.”
Friedman was also a part of the Law School’s Alliance for Israel, the Federalist Society, the Harvard Mediation Program, and the Harvard Business Law Review.
Before and during his time at the Law School, Friedman practiced until he could nearly ace the Law School Admission Test and started a tutoring business, through which he taught hundreds of students. Friends described the tutoring work as a sign of Friedman’s commitment to giving back.
“Josh wasn’t one to ever close the door behind him,” Caras said.
—Staff writer Caroline G. Hennigan can be reached at caroline.hennigan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cghennigan.
—Staff writer Sidhi Dhanda can be reached at sidhi.dhanda@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @sidhidhanda.
