Published by the Israel Religious Action Center, 2012. This week is the first of seven weeks between Tisha B’Av and Rosh HaShanah. On the previous three Sabbaths leading to Tisha B’Av, the Haftarahs are traditionally called Haftarahs of Admonition during which the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah admonish the Jewish people for straying from their religious and spiritual responsibilities. The Haftarahs of Admonition are read in anticipation of observing Tisha B’Av as a day of mour

Dvar Torah on Parshat Noah Published by the Israel Religious Action Center, October 15, 2012 This week’s parshah contains the story of Noah. Noah built an ark. He brought in two of each animal, one male and one female. Noah’s wife and three sons and their wives all entered the ark. It rained for forty days and forty nights. Then God placed a rainbow in the sky as a sign that there would never be another event that would destroy human and animal societies in one fell swoop. So

This d'var Torah was originally published in The Pluralist of the Israel Religious Action Center for the week of January 12, 2015. In this week’s Torah portion[ 1 ], the Egyptians and Israelites suffer the first three plagues: blood in the water, frogs on the land, and lice on the body. Then the Egyptians suffer four more plagues while the Israelites are spared. These are the plagues of wild animals invading the neighborhood, cattle disease, boils and hail. During next week’

Parshat Tetzvah A Midrash in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of becoming bat mitzvah by Rabbi Pamela Frydman

Written for Shalom Bayit, Jewish Women Working to End Domestic Violence. In this week’s parsha, it says that when you build a new house, you should make a guardrail for your roof, so that you will not cause blood to be spilled in your house. This is very a practical teaching. In ancient times, people used their roof the way we use a patio or backyard today. There was a danger that people would be relaxing or studying or socializing on the roof, or that children would be play

by Rabbi Pam Frydman (in honor of the memory of her mother Perel bat Chayyim v'Geetscha on the occasion of her third yahrzeit) It says in the Gemara (Megillah 14a) תנו רבנן: ארבעים ושמונה נביאים ושבע נביאות נתנבאו להם לישראל Our Rabbis taught: “Forty-eight prophets and seven prophetesses prophesied to Israel.” In the second aliyah of this week’s Parsha, Miriam dies and as we know, Miriam was a נְּבִיאָה (prophetess), and her prophetic ability was acknowledged not ju

A Teaching on Parshat Toldot By Rabbi Pam Frydman Once there was a king who had four advisors. When the king asked for advice, each advisor would give the king a different answer and the king didn’t know what to do, so he went home and asked his wife, the queen. The queen said, let’s show the advisors that everyone sees things differently and that’s why they each give you different advice. If they can learn to see from each other’s point of view, maybe they can get together a

By Rabbi Pamela Frydman In this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Vayera, G-o-d decides to tell our father Abraham that the cities of Sodom and Gomora are going to be destroyed.[ 1 ] This is an instance in which Abraham displays an uncanny ability to negotiate with G-o-d as though he and G-o-d were friends. This is the story: G-o-d tells Abraham that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are committing grievous sins by victimizing one another. G-o-d says that the victims are crying o

By Rabbi Pamela Frydman, Congregation P'nai Tikvah It says in the Torah that during the time of Noah, there was corruption in the world. G-o-d regretted creating the world, because life in the world had become corrupt. So G-o-d decided to bring a flood to destroy everything that was standing. In other words, the flood would destroy everything that was not in the ark or swimming in the flood waters. G-o-d also committed to beginning life again after the flood, and to start tha

A Sermon for Rosh HaShannah Day 5777 By Rabbi Pamela Frydman Today we read the story that describes how Abraham bound his son Isaac on the altar and an angel intervened and said, “Abraham! Abraham! Do not do this! Do not sacrifice your son!” [1] Judaism is full of paradox. If Judaism was not a religion of paradox, it would not be relevant to human life, because human life is, in and of itself, full of paradox. Let me give you an example. Say you are a lawyer and you are not

Moses, The Exemplar Parshat Va’etchanan – 16 Menachem Av 2776 – August 19, 2016 (This talk is also linked to the website of Congregation P’nai Tikvah.) This is the time of year when we read the Book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is the fifth and final book of the Torah. The entire book takes place on the eastern shore of the Jordan River. The Israelites have just completed 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and they are preparing to cross the river and enter the Promised L

Parshot Aharei Mot - Kedoshim By Rabbi Pam Frydman This week we read two Torah portions: Aharei Mot and Kedoshim. Aharei Mot teaches us about the rituals performed by the High Priest on Yom Kippur. Kedoshim teaches us about holiness. In Parshat Aharei Mot, Aaron, the High Priest, the brother of Moses is receiving instructions about what to do on Yom Kipput. Aaron is told to wear special clothing and to offer special sacrifices. Aaron was also supposed to enter into the Kodes

The Ironic Power of Pessimism Shabbat Parshat Shelach Lecha, June 16-17, 2017 By Rabbi Pam Frydman Once there was a boy named Stanley. Stanley was a stutterer and he had trouble getting his words out. When it was time for Stanley to become bar mitzvah, his rabbi asked him to write a speech. Stanley reached for the chalk board that he carried with him and he wrote on the chalkboard, “I can’t give a speech.” “Yes, you can,” said Stanley’s rabbi. “You can give a speech for your

Moses by Rabbi Pam for Parshat Shemot - December 29, 2018 at Congregation B'nai Emunah There is a book called, Who Wrote the Bible by Richard Elliot Friedman. In the book, Friedman postulates that there were several strands of text that were woven together to create the Bible. In other words, according to Friedman, no one person wrote the Bible. Rather, numerous authors wrote it and the writings of those authors were woven together to produce the text we have tod

A Blessing For Our Leaders By Rabbi Pam Frydman on Parshat Lech Lecha at Congregation B’nai Emunah This is Leadership Appreciation Shabbat and I want to offer these words in honor of our leaders with deep appreciation for all you do for our congregation. I once saw a bumper sticker that said, “If you can read this, thank a teacher.” Thanks to teachers, we can read, write and engage in art and science. We can build automobiles, airplanes and buildings. We can play sports and w

by Rabbi Pam on Parshat Noah at Congregation B’nai Emunah On the other hand, we do not really know whether the stories in the Torah are true, but we can learn from the stories nevertheless because, as Rabbi Donniel Hartman says, the Torah is not a Book of Science; it is a Book of Values. We can learn about the values that are depicted in the Torah and in the midrash (commentary) regardless of whether the underlying story actually took place. As we know, this week’s Torah port

This dvar Torah is in memory of my mother Pearl Roth Oliner Frydman z”l on the occasion of her 16th yahrzeit. In the sixth aliyah of our parsha, HaShem instructs Aaron in the responsibilities and privileges of the Kohanim and Levi’im. As part of this, HaShem describes certain parts of the korbanot (sacrifices) that are to be set aside specifically for the Kohanim and their sons and daughters. Then HaShem says, בְּרִית מֶלַח עוֹלָם הִיא “This is an eternal covenant of salt.” (

By Rabbi Pamela Frydman ( This dvar torah was first published in The Pluralist 2014.) This coming Shabbat is Shabbat Shira. The Hebrew word shir means both song and poem. In truth, every Shabbat is an opportunity for songs and poetry, but Shabbat Shira is especially so because the Torah portion includes the Song of the Sea and the haftarah includes the Song of Deborah. In the Torah portion, the Israelites leave Egypt and walk across a dry sea bed in the midst of the Sea of R

Published by Truah, The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, 2012. This week’s Torah portion is Parshat Bo. The portion tells the stories of the last three plagues suffered by the Egyptians—locusts, darkness and the killing of the firstborn. During the Pesach seder, we remove drops of wine from our cups to remember the suffering of the Egyptians. During morning worship on Pesach, we recite Hallel, a series of psalms of praise and gratitude. Unlike on other festivals when full Hall

For Congregation Beth Sholom, San Francisco, California © February 2009 by Rabbi Pamela Frydman Shabbat shalom. I am standing in the place where our beloved Rabbi Alan Lew zichrono livracha (of blessed memory) liked to stand when he shared words of Torah, and I would like to dedicate these words to his memory. In this week’s parsha, G!d is sending the Israelites out of Egypt by a circuitous route that takes them by way of the Sea of Reeds—rather than the more direct route thr

This dvar torah was originally published in May 19, 2014 edition of The Pluralist , the weekly newsletter of the Israel Religious Action Center. This week’s parsha begins the fourth Book of the Torah, called Bamidbar, meaning “in the wilderness.” The English name is “Numbers.” First G-o-d instructs the Israelites to take a census and then G-o-d describes how the tribes should arrange themselves as they camp and wander in the wilderness. G-o-d tells Moses, “Take a head count

Hope for the Future Parashot Matot uMas’ei – August 5-6, 2016 – 2-3 Menachem Av 5776 In this week’s Torah portion, the Israelites arrive at the Jordan River after forty years of wandering in the wilderness. They have more to do and more to experience before they are ready to enter the Promised Land, but the wandering from place is now behind them. It is approximately 3,916 years since the Israelites arrived at the Jordan River, and here we are, arriving at the Indigo

Using Our Imagination Parshat Beha’alotecha – 19 Sivan 5776 – June 25, 2016 Back in the old days, there was a Jewish family living in the Carpathian Mountains. They had a small farm where they grew crops and kept a cow, two goats and a few chickens. The family had a decent life, but their farm house was very small, and when they started having children, they wanted a bigger house, but they could never figure out how to raise the money to pay for it. One day the wife said to h