fo good morning. welcome to mosaic. i'm rabbi eric weiss. i'm honored to be your host this morning. across the country, clergy think about peer support and peer education and the way in which clergy have to pay attention to their own health. we want to invite you to a conversation with pam fried man, the current president of the northern california board of rabbis. welcome. >> thank you so much rabbi weiss. we're so glad to have you.

we'll jump in and the northern california board of rabbis can you talk a little about what the board of rabbis is and in thes function and perhaps even your vision for the future as our current president. >> oh, sure. the board of rabbis of northern california has a very wide geographic area from the northern border in the north to the eastern border of california and going over into nevada around reno and the lake tahoe area. then south around salih nas and monterrey and then west over to the pacific ocean. we are open to ordained rabbis across the spectrum. reformed, conservative, orthodox, restrictionist and rabbis not affiliated with a particular denomination even though they have been trained

or ordained in one. >> i myself am a member and a former president myself of the board of directors, so i'm curious to know if you can talk a little bit about the ways in which the board of rabbis thinks of itself as appear group in which rabbis themselves care for each other and get to know one a not. >> yes. and one of the wonderful things as you know is that we take turns walking in each other's footsteps so our board of directors which we now call our executive committee rotates over time. there are many colleagues who hoof served in the role of president and we have a few colleagues that have been in the executive director although we don't have one right now. by taking turns, we continue as a unified organization but our complexion changes slightly and highlights different talents and capacities as we change

leaders. one of the wonderful things about the board of rabbis is that we support each other as rabbis while serving the greater community, both the jewish community and interfaith community. >> i know it is a big question, but just on the face of it, why is it important in any community that faith leaders, rabbis, priests, ministers, pastors, actually come together unto themselves? why is that important both to in our case rabbis, clergy and the community itself in our case the jewish community, but why should a community let's say care about that? >> well, i think it is incredibly important in the jewish community for reasons that also relate to other faiths and also for different reasons. so for example within jew daism, we have different streams or denominations and

the board of rabbis is a meeting ground and a common ground for rabbis who may be orthodox or reform, conservative or renewal or reconstructionists or not affiliated with a movement and it gives us a chance to develop our friendship ks, to learn together and allows us to learn from each other in addition to whoever might be at the front of the room at a given time. it also allows us to amplify our voice on issues that are important. we don't take a lot of stands but we have a newsletter every month that helps rabbis to inform each other about what is going on. i think that is a particularly jewish specific set of reasons. in terms of faith in general, i think it is extremely important that we not only be strong within our own faith and supporting our congregants and con stitch wents but we are clearly a bart of the high man

family and community of faith. our board of rabbis gives us a venue for connecting with others. i'm going to be going soon to a meeting of the san francisco foundation faith in action initiative. i really look forward to being with my colleagues of other faiths and while i could come in as a lone rabbi, being able to be there representing rabbis across the spectrum and they doing the same it creates possibility and a kind of warmth and support that is wonderful both in good times and in times of challenge. i want to say one more thing. you know, at the time of the very tragic pittsburgh shooting, in the aftermath i was at a gathering at congregation emmanuel here in

san francisco and there were depending on whose estimate you go with between 1200 and 1800 people and on the pulpit were religious leaders from diverse faiths many of whom i knew and was friends with for years and just to be able, the shooting was on saturday and here we were sitting in the middle of the day on sunday, the gathering of that kind of support happens because of the relationships that we build during good times. >> rabbi friedman thank you so much. we'll take a quick break and come back to mosaic in just a moment.

good morning. welcome back to mosaic. i'm rabbi eric weiss and honored to be your host. we're in the middle of a conversation with rabbi pam frydman and also the current president of the board of directors of the northern california board of rabbis. welcome back. >> thank you so much. >> we were talking about the role of rabbis at large and certainly within the context of representing the northern california board of rabbis. one of the things that people don't know about, the board is

very much noted for its klieg yal ty in part because it doesn't necessarily take official stands on issues that might actually cause internal frictiontion among the members and we support each other and other stances we take out there in the community whether an issue a round same-sex marriage or around conversion or issues around civic issues at large. so i am wondering if you can talk a little bit in that context about how it is that you as our current president and the board of rabbis does respond when something happens in the larger community like sadly a shooting or sadly a political issue. how do you think as our president about the ways in which the board of rabbis as a

body responds to civic issues? >> that is an important question. we express empathy, we express solidarity and without taking a stand. and a moment ago i was talking about being at congregation emmanuel after the shooting in the free of life synagogue in pittsburgh and how colleagues across the faiths came out to support the jewish community and i and you and others of us have been at gatherings to support people of diverse faiths, both those who live in northern california and elsewhere. i'm particularly thinking today about the a split days, a mono thee yick minority in northern iraq. when they were experiencing a recent genocide that began in 2014, the board of rabbis stepped up together with interfaith councils in our area

to raise consciousness about the polite of it and to raise funds to help in certain ways without taking any stand for or against anyone. and actually as part of supporting them,way also supported a syrian christians who were facing a particularly horrific time, their situation was never defined as a genocide but was on that level so we supported both communities. >> we're seeing a lot in our community and also sadly the country that has to do with a kind of rising anti-jewish antisemitic sentiment, whether it is something in social social or social media or in a pebblecation or something from an individual. what is the role of the faith

community when there is a distinct group, in this case jews, marked in a way filled with prejudice? >> i think that is such a good question. i think there isn't one way to do it and that the most important part is the developing and evolving of relationships over time so that we can be responsive to whatever is happening in a given moment. the relationships that we have with faith leaders across the spectrum help us to become creative in the moment that it is needed. i am also very concerned about the amount of veer length anti semitism both interunited states and elsewhere in the world and at the same time, i'm also concerned and i know that you are, as well, about the anti thrust against so many other peoples, people of color,

people of you know certain gender preference, people who are perceived in a certain way. i have been reading some literature with comments about women. i was reading a comment by a pundit who was de eyeing the fact that the country may soon be run by women and there was something about the way that it was worded that was so anti women that it reminded me that any group can be a targeted at anytime and so being able to stand together with one another against anti-semitism and to stand with others when they are persecuted, that is one of our roles. >> we feed to take a quick break but that is an important point to develop when we come back here on mosaic.

welcome back to mosaic. i'm rabbi eric weiss. we're in a wonderful conversation with rabbi pam frydman and you know when we ended the last segment you were talking about ways in which there is a rise in what i think of as sort of otherring somebody who is not like you and particular role of the faith community in bringing a voice to what that is. i am wondering what is your thoughts are when we talk about the core values, whether you're christian or jewish or hindu or muslim or due dist. there is a way to recognize any individual is create the in the image of the def vine. we might use different language but that is the core

understanding that every individual person represents something that is trans cen depth, something that is divine. when somebody makes another person somebody to be afraid of or somebody that is not like you, is somebody not to be regarded in that same way, how does a faith community take its values and articulate a different perspective? >> that is such a good question. you know, as you were saying, i serve congregation and we are just in the process of celebrating our 70th anniversary. way were founded on chanukah in 1949 and the primary population among our founders were holocaust survivors from europe who survived by being in shanghai and shanghai was an international city at the time and while life was extremely difficult there, it was much

better than what could have god forbid happened to these people if they were still in europe in areas of nazi occupation. our congregation continues to have holocaust survivors with us to this stay as well as second and third generation survivors and we particularly focus on being warm and welcoming and inclusive. we do that both because that is who we are and how we believe, but we also believe it is a response to that dehumanizing that happens when you're being persecuted. we welcome jews, we have a saying that everyone is jewish enough and we welcome interfaith. we say interfaith families are welcome as a way of making that very point. >> a feeling of belonging in so crucial to any faith group and every rabbi, minister or

priest, pastor, thinks a lot about how in their sphere of influence in their sphere of service the ways in which they lead by an example of belonging. i am wondering if you can talk a little bit about how in fact even this experience in the holocaust survivors coming out of shanghai speaks today about the ways in which the congregation has a sense that everybody belongs, you're jewish enough, and creates that culture of belonging. >> you know, we're very blessed to have plane torah scrolls on our pulpit. you see seven ball scrolls and in addition to those seven, there is one scroll that is not in the arc and it is in a kind of plexiglas or holder instead. it is open even though our tradition is to keep the torah rolled and with a beautiful cover on it.

that is one of the torahs from the czech republic that is a holing low cost surviving torah, so we find ways to deviate from the norm in order to honor the past, honor the suffering of the past and celebrate the future. that holocaust torah represents a memory of something that vary hor pli happened and then if you look a little further on our pulpit, y'all see in the forera holder, our little stuffed torahs. the children can come up and they can carry, take a torah and carry it. if we're putting it away at the moment, they can take their stuffy and it can go right into the arc with the real torahs so it is -- these are just ways we find to make room for everyone. when we have an interfaith guest, we show them our torah and we teach them about our

tradition without pros la tizing and without convictionsing them to be like us, but making sure they know how much we appreciate them. >> thank you. we will be back to mosaic in just a moment.

good morning. welcome back to mosaic. we're in the middle of a

wonderful conversation with rabbi frydman. and president of the northernthern california board of rabbis. what is new at the congregation? >> were a traditional conservative congregation and we make use of the internet so at any given time you can ge to the home page and you'll see a slide show at the top, what our newest and most important events are and if anyone is in tread there is b mail and we e- mail it out every week. so our programming changes although our worship continues on shabbat and it is always warm and friendly. >> do you have special events for your anniversary celebration? >> we do and those are listed right on the website just as

you go on to the congregation. you'll see them all coming up during the beginning of chanukah. can you talk a little about the congregation is a part of the conservative movement? noth everyone understands the differents in the jewish community. can you say a short way that conservative movement in jewish life and how benet is a member of it. >> i would define conservative in terms of conservation. we're a part of it and the movement is in the middle in a certain way between orthodox and reformed. we're not looking at ourselves in the mirror to see where we are on the spectrum. we're more looking at the person walking through the door and saying how can we welcome you? how can we help you to find your path with in judaism or in

relation to judaism. >> so as our former president, you yourself embody diversity because you serve in a pulpit in part of the conservative movement and you were ordained and a past national president of the renewal movement's ra been nick body. so you yourself represent the actual diversity of ra been nick life in the country and in the bay area. can you tell a little about the renewal movement itself? >> the purpose of the renewal movement is to breathe new life into judaism. it is not a denomination. it welcomes both the students and members to affiliate with and continue the religious practice on whatever level feels right to them. >> we just have believe it or not just a minute or so left. i want to ask you a big question about vision which is

that you talked a lot about the value of relationship and how relationship matters when we come to points of challenge in our community both religiously and civically. i myself think and i know others do believe as well that as goes ra been nick relationship, as goes relationship among clergy, so goes a community and that we model relationship with one another as a way of modeling relationship in the community at large, so i am wondering what ideas you have your vision for, what's that relationship will do to the benefit of the community among rabbis in the future. >> i think one of the most important things we do as a board of rabbis in addition to connecting with each other as rabbis is being available to serve in the community. if someone contacts the board of rabbis and is looking for a rabbi for a particular purpose,

we make a referral and in general, the openness of rabbis whoever is sitting in front of them and help that person wherever they are going is one of the most important things we can ask as rabbis, as jews and as members of the human family. >> rabbi friedman, thank you so much for being with us. it has been a pleasure to have you with us and out there in the community, pay attention to your clergy person, your rabbi, priest, your ministry. give them your support and have them be among the peers. thank you for being here on mosaic.

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this is kpix5 news. brentwood on ice. more like brentwood on water. the holiday grinch that struck at the ice rink right before the parade. >> some scary moments were happening for folks flying out. details on the emergency landing overnight. plus santa clara county's community touched by violence to get guns off the street. it is 6:00 a.m. on this sunday, december 15th, 2019. >> i'm devin fehely. i'm emily turner. you are very much looking forward to this. no showers for the most part over land. maybe a few scattered showers sef the coast where you might