Jen Taylor Friedman is a soferet (Jewish ritual scribe). On September 9, 2007, she became the first woman known to have completed a Torah scroll. Taylor Friedman's sefer Torah was commissioned by United Hebrew Congregation, a Reform temple in St. Louis, Missouri.^[1]

Taylor Friedman was born in Southampton, England, and educated at Oxford.^[2] While studying at Oxford, she became interested in halakha (Jewish law) and calligraphy, and by a "chance combination of happy circumstances" she met a sofer (a male scribe) who helped her realize that becoming a soferet would allow her to pursue both interests.^[3] Taylor Friedman continued her scribal studies in Jerusalem and New York City, where she now resides.^[2][4]

Taylor Friedman's first project as a soferet was Megillat Esther, a scroll of the Biblical Book of Esther that is traditionally read in synagogue on the holiday of Purim. She completed the project on Purim 2004 (March 6).^[5] Since that time she has prepared six more megillot,^[5] including one for Congregation Ansche Chesed, a synagogue on Manhattan's Upper West Side.^[6] Friedman oversaw the work of scribes involved with the Women's Torah Project, completed in 2010.^[7] In May 2010 she completed her third Torah scroll for Congregation Dorshei Emet, the first synagogue in Canada and the third in the world to receive a Torah handwritten by a woman.^[8][9] In 2018 she completed the first full Torah written in Texas by a woman.^[10] Austin's Congregation Agudas Achim requested her to do it for them.^[10][11]

Taylor Friedman is one of a small, but growing, number of soferot (female scribes).^[12][13]

Taylor Friedman is also known for her Tefillin Barbie, which has been featured in a number of prominent Jewish publications.