Pam Frydman serves as a chaplain, providing spiritual care for patients and loved ones of all faiths and backgrounds.
She was founding Rabbi of Or Shalom Jewish Community in San Francisco, Interim Rabbi of Congregation P’nai Tikvah (now part of Temple Sinai) in Las Vegas, and Interim Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Emunah (now part of Am Tikvah) in San Francisco. She is presently helping out at Temple Emmanuel in Wakefield.
She is a past President of the Board of Rabbis of Northern California. She 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 on the prevention and reporting of child abuse in the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Community. She served on the Board of Shalom Bayit, working to end domestic violence in Jewish homes, and she was 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 and served as Director of the Holocaust Education Project for the Academy for Jewish Religion in Los Angeles. She has begun a book of stories based on interviews with survivors.
While learning about the Holocaust within and beyond her 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 to 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) and 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 is a co-author, together with Despina Namwembe of Uganda and Dr. Ejaz Naqvi and Ifthekar Hai of the U.S.A., of a chapter entitled, “The Bible and The Quran, Revelations, Commonalities and Differences.” that appears in the Eighth International Holy Books Conference Anthology (2020).
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 of the rabbinic program in which she was ordained. 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 teacher of chant and meditation through the Inayati Maimuni Order and Sufi Ruhaniat International. She is occasionally 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.