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Baruch Frydman-Kohl
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Baruch Frydman-Kohl
The Blogs

Baruch Frydman-Kohl

Rabbi, legal mediator, advocate
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Apr 3, 2023, 8:26 AM
Prisoner of Hope
Saturday night, 25 March 2023, Kikkar Tzorfat (France Square) (courtesy)
On Shabbat, as I said goodbye to friends after kiddush, I added, “See you tonight.” Everyone knew what I meant, because for 12 weeks, our post Shabbat activity involved gathering in front of the the Residence of the President...
Jul 15, 2021, 7:29 AM
Is Green Kosher in Canada?
Last September, members of Jewish communities around Canada and the world felt great pride as Annamie Paul became the first Jewish woman of colour to take the helm of a major party.  No matter one’s political leanings, to see such...
Sep 18, 2020, 10:53 PM
Finding Our Place
Many of us today are in our place, yet strangely not so. Students in university, yet not able to fully enjoy being on campus. Children in school, yet in a classroom capsule. People at work, meeting from their dining room...
Sep 17, 2020, 5:19 PM
Avraham and Us
Abraham Welcomes Guests (Rembrandt van Rijn)
Many years ago, Rabbi Daniel Jeremy Silver wrote Images of Moses, an  exploration of how Moshe was described by different generations of Jews. The Alexandrian thinker, Philo, imagined him as a Hellenic sage. The teachers of the Talmud saw...
Sep 16, 2020, 8:54 PM
Believing is Seeing
There is a Hebrew expression that goes far beyond the hope for a Shanah Tovah. It is "May the old year with its troubles end. Let the new year, with blessings, begin”. So many of us hope that this...
Jun 2, 2020, 8:20 AM
Featured Post
Corona and keter, disease and divinity
Rather than seeing God as decreeing disease, we're better off recognizing how human beings affect the cosmos and, in turn, the divine
Jan 8, 2020, 10:36 PM
Joseph and Egypt, Jews and Society
Although most of us focus attention on the plea of Yehudah and the reunion of the family of Yaakov, we should also consider the relationship of Yosef’s extended family with the resident population of Egypt. Notice that Yosef “acquired...
May 18, 2019, 1:45 AM
Featured Post
Time, space and courage
Crew of Space Shuttle Columbia, killed on reentry, February, 1, 2003. (NASA)
On Ilan Ramon's salvaged diary, the remnants of the Enoch scroll, and the ancient quest to reach beyond our limits
Dec 31, 2017, 12:35 PM
Neil Gillman: Revelation and Relationships, Myths and Metaphors
Rabbi Neil Gillman, who played a significant role in the shift of Conservative Judaism over the past forty years from its original positive-historical framework to a more dynamic orientation to Jewish law and life, died on the 6th of Kislev...
Jul 2, 2017, 11:30 AM
Wilderness and Nation-Building: Canada and Israel
Our recent Torah portion finds the people of Israel near the conclusion of their 40 year journey through the Wildness, from Egyptian slavery to the Land of Promise. “And the children of Israel journeyed and camped in the plains...
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About Me
Baruch Frydman-Kohl is Rabbi Emeritus of Beth Tzedec Congregation in Toronto, Ontario, after having served for 26 years as the Anne and Max Tanenbaum Senior Rabbi. Born in Milwaukee and raised in Chicago, Rav Baruch previously served Congregation Ohav Shalom in Albany, New York. He has a doctorate in philosophies of Judaism from the Jewish Theological Seminary, a LLM degree in Dispute Resolution from Osgoode Law School of York University, and is a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute. He is Vice-Chair of the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus.
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