Baruch Frydman-Kohl is Interim Rabbi in Residence at Kehillat Beth Israel of Ottawa, the capital of Canada and Rabbi Emeritus of Beth Tzedec Congregation in Toronto, the capital of the Province of Ontario. He formerly served as Rabbi of Congregation Ohav Shalom, of Albany NY, the capital of New York State.

During his three decade leadership of the largest synagogue community in Canada, he initiated the development of a "synaplex" of ritual and educational opportunities to encourage participation in synagogue life and emphasized family education, life-long learning and care for the housebound, hospitalized and homeless.

Rav Baruch is past president of the Toronto Board of Rabbis, serves as vice-chair of the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus and was featured in “The Secret of San Nicandro” for CBC and “Amazing Communities” for Israel television. He offered a prayer in the Unit-ed States Senate and helped to organize the Solidarity Vigil and Memorial following the Yonge Street killings in April 2018. He was a leader of Path of Abraham/ Sharing Perspectives study missions to bring Jews, Christians and Muslims to the Holy Land to explore three religions, two nations and one land.

Rav Baruch is the author of scholarly articles in the area of Jewish philosophy and mysticism and served on the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbini-cal Assembly for two decades. He was awarded a Coolidge Fellowship for research in an interfaith community at the Episcopal Divinity School at Harvard University, re-ceived a doctorate in Jewish Philosophy from the Jewish Theological Seminary, is a Rabbinic Fellow of the Hartman Institute and was awarded a degree in Dispute Reso-lution by Osgoode Hall Law Schoo of York University.

His service to the community was recognized in 2016 with the Gordy Wolfe Award for Lifetime Jewish Communal Professional Leadership. In 2021, he was appointed to the Order of Canada for his contributions to Canadian society.