Pam Frydman serves as a chaplain, providing spiritual and religious support to patients and families of all backgrounds and faiths.
She was founding Rabbi of Or Shalom Jewish Community in San Francisco, Interim Rabbi of Congregation P’nai Tikvah in Las Vegas, and Interim Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Emunah in San Francisco (now part of Am Tikvah).
She is past President of the Northern California Board of Rabbis and was the first woman to serve as President of Ohalah, Association of Rabbis and Cantors for Jewish Renewal. She also served on the Ohalah Ethics Committee, including as Chair.
She served on the Organizing Committee of Beyond Silence, raising consciousness about the prevention and reporting of child abuse in the Bay Area Jewish Community. She served on the Board of Shalom Bayit, working to end domestic violence in Jewish homes, and as founding Co-Chair of Shalom Bayit’s Rabbinic Advisory Council.
She was a founding Co-Chair of Rabbis for Women of the Wall, and founding Chair of Ruach Hiddush, Rabbis and Cantors for Religious Freedom and Equality in Israel.
She is a Holocaust researcher, served as Director of the Holocaust Education Project for the Academy for Jewish Religion in Los Angeles and has begun a book of stories based on interviews with survivors.
While learning about the suffering during the Holocaust within and beyond her own family, she developed an interest in genocide awareness and prevention. She served as Coordinator of Save Us From Genocide (SUFG) and Beyond Genocide (BG), helping raise consciousness about the Yazidi People and Assyrian Christians who faced genocide in Iraq. The project earned a 2016 Global Citizen Humanitarian Hero Award from the United Nationals Association (East Bay Chapter) that is 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 co-authored a chapter in the Eighth International Holy Books Conference Anthology (2020) entitled “The Bible and The Quran, Revelations, Commonalities and Differences.” The chapter is co-authored with Despina Namwembe of Uganda and Dr. Ejaz Naqvi and Ifthekar Hai of California, U.S.A..
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). Following ordination, she served on the Rabbinic Cabinet for academic oversight. She trained in Clinical Pastoral Education in the residency program at Stanford University and is a member of the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC) and Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains (NAJC).
Prior to entering the rabbinate, she studied Sufism, Buddhism and Theosophy. She is a teaches chanting and meditation through the Inayati Maimuni Order and Sufi Ruhaniat International and occasionally as a guest teacher in Jewish and interfaith settings. She is a dance leader of the Dances of Universal Peace and a past President of the San Francisco Lodge of the Theosophical Society.
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