Meet Pam

Pam Frydman is an ordained Rabbi, Board Certified Chaplain and Spiritual Counselor.

She was founding Rabbi of Or Shalom Jewish Community in San Francisco, California; Interim Rabbi of Congregation P’nai Tikvah (now part of Temple Sinai) in Las Vegas, Nevada; and Interim Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Emunah (now part of Am Tikvah) in San Francisco, California.

She is a past President of the Board of Rabbis of Northern California, and was the first woman to serve as President of Ohalah, the Association of Rabbis, Cantors, and Rabbinic Chaplains for Jewish Renewal, where she also served on the Ethics Committee, including as Chair.

She is a lifetime member of APSAC, the Association of Professionals Solving the Abuse of Children, and serves on the APSAC Faith Section. Previously, she served on the Organizing Committee of Beyond Silence, raising consciousness on the prevention, reporting, and treatment of child abuse in the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Community. She also served on the Board of Shalom Bayit, working to end domestic violence in Jewish homes, and she was the founding Co-Chair of Shalom Bayit’s Rabbinic Advisory Council.

She was founding Chair of Ruach Hiddush, Rabbis and Cantors for Religious Freedom and Equality in Israel and founding Co-Chair of Rabbis for Women of the Wall.

She is a Holocaust researcher and served as Director of the Holocaust Education Project for the Academy for Jewish Religion in Los Angeles. She served as an editor, along with Rabbi Goldie Milgram, of the documentary To Remember to Return by Carola de Vries Robles, which focuses on unspoken feelings experienced in the aftermath of the Holocaust. She has also begun a book of stories based on interviews with survivors.

While learning about the Holocaust within and beyond her family, she also developed an interest in genocide awareness. She served as Coordinator of Save Us From Genocide (SUFG) and Beyond Genocide (BG), helping raise consciousness about the suffering of the Yazidi People and Assyrian Christians in Iraq. The project earned a 2016 Global Citizen Humanitarian Hero Award from the United Nations Association (East Bay Chapter) shared by the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County, the Marin Interfaith Council, the Silicon Valley Inter-religious Council, the Interfaith Center at the Presidio, United Religions Initiative, and the Northern California Board of Rabbis.

She is the author of Calling on God, Sacred Jewish Teachings for Seekers of All Faiths. Her essay, “Unseemly, Very Unseemly” appears in The Minyan, A Tapestry of Jewish Life by Patti Moskovitz. Her essay “Practical Spirituality: Judaic and Multi-faith Practices of Transformation” appears in Practical Spirituality and Human Development, edited by Ananta Kumar Giri. Her essay, “Holy Jewish Texts and Teachings About Peace” appears in the Keanean Journal of Arts, Volume VI-2019, published by Lady Keane College, Shillong, India. She is also a co-author of “The Bible and The Quran: Revelations, Commonalities and Differences” by Ejaz Naqvi, M.D., Rabbi Pamela Frydman, Despina Namwembe, and Iftekhar Hai. Presently, she is preparing a cookbook for publication (exp 2027).

She earned her bachelors degree at Tel Aviv University with majors in psychology and linguistics. She was ordained as a rabbi by P’nai Or Religious Fellowship, now the Aleph Ordination Program Jewish Renewal Seminary. Following ordination, she served on the Rabbinic Cabinet for academic oversight of the program in which she was ordained.

She trained in Clinical Pastoral Education at Stanford Health Care. She is a Board Certified Chaplain, certified by the Board of Chaplaincy Certification, Inc., an Affiliate of the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC). She is also a member of APC and Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains (NAJC).

Pam has also studied world religions with an emphasis on Sufism, Buddhism, and Theosophy. She is a teacher of chant and meditation in the Jewish community and through Sufi Ruhaniat International and the Inayati Maimuni Order. She is also a dance leader of the Dances of Universal Peace and a past President of the San Francisco Lodge of the Theosophical Society.