For Judy Friedman, co-founding the Or Ami Village grows out of the priorities that have governed her career and post-career endeavors: she simply wants to guide others toward healthy, comfortable, and meaningful lifestyles…accompanied by ample doses of kindness, empathy, laughter, and fun. 

Judy designed, marketed, and conducted personal and professional development programs, including health and wellness, career to retirement transitions, and work-life balance. At both the American Lung Association and Ventura County Public Health Department, Judy conducted classes, led conferences and ran workshops on smoking cessation and ways to create smoke-free workplaces, all prior to the passage of the California law. Refocusing on overall wellness, Judy took charge of a team of Wellness professionals at the HMO Health Net, determined to develop programs that kept their employees and families healthy. 

Judy’s post-career life has centered on the baby boomer generation, an age group that has touched her heart. Ten years ago, Judy started Boomer-Life, a community where those 55+ discover ways to maintain youth, vitality, and zest for life with others seeking the very same. Boomer-Life provided a perfect segue to helping establish Or Ami’s Village, where the goal was to create a vibrant community that would nourish the mind, heart, and spirit of our 55+ members. Judy ensured that this work always aligned with the Jewish values that are the heart and soul of our Congregation Or Ami.

In addition to her volunteer work with Or Ami Village, Judy is involved in a number of charitable causes, including being on the Advisory Council of Conejo Senior Volunteer Program which oversees the 1000+ volunteers who help out in our community. She has served on the Board of Trustees for Community Conscience, a human services non-profit serving Ventura County, and has been an active volunteer with the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. Judy is also a very proud member of our own Or Ami Board of Directors.

The establishment of the Harry and Judy Friedman Family Foundation gave Judy and her husband, Harry, a way to support nonprofit groups that enhance quality of life for children in need, contribute to school music and arts programs, and provide assistance to veterans and those that foster the humane treatment of pets. 

Both Judy and Harry grew up in the Midwest: Judy from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and Harry from Omaha, Nebraska, which has always kept people wondering if we were the only Jewish people to come from there! Judy and Harry delight endlessly in being with their daughters, Amy and Leslie, sons-in-law Dax and Devin, and, of course, their grandkids, Ayla, Zander, and Emmy. We kvell in knowing these young people will lead us to a brighter future.