Rabbi · Scholar · Teacher of Torah
הרב מיכה שמחה פרידמן
Tracing questions of ethics and spirituality through the living chain of Jewish tradition.
Torah is a living conversation — and it needs your voice. My work is to move through the whole chain of Jewish literary tradition as a single, ongoing argument about what it means to be human and Jewish right now.
Currently serving part-time as rabbi of Temple Israel of Vestal, New York.
About
I am a student and teacher of Torah dedicated to building bridges between contemporary people and the treasures of the Jewish wisdom tradition. My work is grounded in the faith that Torah and mitzvot can help us live with meaning and purpose, connection and service.
My teaching brings together close reading, Hasidic imagination, halakhic-egalitarian practice, song, reflection, and the ordinary questions people carry into Jewish life. I have served synagogues in Massachusetts and New York as a Torah teacher and prayer leader, and I try to make Jewish texts feel both ancient and immediate — a living conversation that still needs our voices.
I currently serve part-time as rabbi of Temple Israel of Vestal, a Conservative congregation in the Southern Tier of New York. I am honored to teach, pray, celebrate, mourn, and meet with members of the community, and I bring the same attentiveness to pastoral care that I bring to the bimah and the classroom.
I have also served as an interfaith chaplain in a local Massachusetts hospital and as a Jewish chaplain in a New York county jail, accompanying people in vulnerable moments with presence, care, and respect. Ordained by Hebrew College in 2023, I received a fellowship for the study of Hasidism and Mysticism and have studied Torah intensively with Hadar, Pardes, and Drisha. My rabbinical capstone on Bohush Hasidic homiletics reflects a central commitment of my work: opening the wisdom of Hasidic teachers in their historical depth to a new generation of seekers.
“The purpose of knowledge is paradoxically to achieve a state of not knowing — not the not-knowing of someone who gives up at the first obstacle, but the not-knowing that comes from deep investigation. One spends time searching through the chambers of the palace, and finds, in that searching, something more valuable than arrival.” — From the teachings of the Ba‘al Shem Tov, Keter Shem Tov
Teaching & Writing
The rabbis of the Talmud were not just legal codifiers — they were storytellers, theologians, and creative readers of scripture whose arguments and narratives shaped every subsequent layer of Jewish thought.
The siddur is one of the most theologically dense and historically layered texts in Jewish literature. These courses open up its language, structure, and spiritual logic — from the Talmudic origins of daily prayer to Hasidic and contemporary approaches to davening.
Classical Talmudic and biblical sources have always grappled with poverty, violence, and the abuse of power. These teachings bring that tradition into direct conversation with contemporary moral crises.
Close reading of Hasidic drashot as literary, historical, and spiritual texts — tracing how the Ba‘al Shem Tov, Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev, the Kozhnitzer Maggid, and the Bohusher Rebbe built their teachings from Talmud, Midrash, and Zohar.
The Hasidic tradition offers a nuanced, moderate orientation toward brokenness — refusing both passive acceptance and naïve messianism. What does it mean to embrace exile as the terrain of necessary repair?
The Hasidic insistence that every physical moment can be a moment of Divine service — that the body is not an obstacle to spirituality but its vehicle. From the Ba‘al Shem Tov through feminist theology to contemporary practice.
In the Room
My favorite teaching settings are communal and conversational: close to the sources, attentive to people’s lived questions, and open to the surprise of what a shared text can reveal.
Current Projects
Recent and active work lives here: a summer course at the National Havurah Institute, newly published writing, and selected poetry and reflection.
Course · NHC Summer Institute 2026
A summer teaching engagement at the National Havurah Institute, selected as one of the inaugural special courses in Jewish mysticism honoring the legacy of Rabbi Mitch Chefitz z”l. The course gathers a hevreh for Hasidic Torah, niggunim, art-making, and four core Hasidic ideas in conversation with contemporary Jewish theology.
Published · Gashmius Volume 6
A published translation and introduction in Gashmius, with Rabbi Jacob Chatinover’s reflection, on prayer, gloom, ahavat chaverim, and the pursuit of “as much joy as possible” in difficult times.
Poem · Hebrew College
A bilingual poem and reflection from a lookout over Jerusalem, paired with a rainbow photo I took while living and studying in Israel.
Scholarship
Rabbinical capstone exploring the homiletical style and theological vision of the second Rebbe of Bohush — an understudied leader of Romanian Hasidism whose teaching on exile, tikkun, and compassionate leadership continues to resonate. Advisor: Dr. Nehemia Polen.
Hebrew College · MA Capstone · 2023
Close reading of a drasha from Pe’er Yisrael, situating Yisrael Shalom Yosef Friedman in conversation with Lilienblum, Ahad ha’Am, Kraemer, and Magid — arguing for exile as the terrain of necessary tikkun and a model of moderate ethical orientation for an era of rising extremism.
Society of Jewish Ethics Annual Conference · January 2026
Contributing researcher to Rabbi Arthur Green’s intellectual biography of Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev. The Kedushat Levi’s close reading of Talmudic passages — understanding Israel’s power to shape Divine will through Torah and mitzvot — was a central focus of this collaborative scholarly work.
Brandeis University Press · 2022
Divrei Torah
“The blessing is not a reward for listening and acting in accordance with the mitzvot. The berakha is not a sort of candy handed to us as a treat for following the rules. Rather, the berakha is the listening to the mitzvot. Listening to the Torah, and internalizing our desire to act in accordance with it, is the greatest pleasure available to us. This listening is a blessing in and of itself.”
— From a drasha on Parshat Re’eh, on the Or HaHayyim HaKadosh
Request a teaching or speaking engagement →Prayer · Temple Israel of Vestal
A liturgical composition in Hebrew and English for the return of those held captive in Gaza.
Bo · 5786 · Temple Israel of Vestal
The very first mitzvot of communal life embed equality before the law — and a joint rabbinic statement on immigration enforcement.
Community Conversations
Alongside synagogue teaching and writing, I value opportunities to speak with neighbors and civic leaders about faith, responsibility, memory, and communal repair. You can see me in dialogue facilitated by the Broome County Council of Churches on their Encounter TV program.
Source Sheets
These are sample areas for classes, chavruta learning, retreats, and adult education. I create source sheets that gather texts from across the tradition and invite learners into the conversation themselves.
Theology · Prayer · Sukkot
The mysterious Talmudic phrase at the center of Sukkot liturgy — and what it reveals about G-d’s participation in human suffering and salvation, drawing on Heschel’s Heavenly Torah.
Hasidism · Kabbalah · Burning Bush
The Ba‘al Shem Tov’s reading of Moshe at the burning bush — how evil becomes a throne for good, and what this means for the possibility of spiritual leadership.
Ethics · Law · History
Torah, Talmud, Joshua, Esther, Sennacherib’s palace reliefs, Roman imperial law, and Billie Holiday — tracing the history of capital punishment and the sanctity of human life.
Prayer · Siddur · Blessing
From Avraham’s call to “be a blessing” through David’s prayer before the ark to the Talmudic principle that enjoyment without blessing is a kind of theft.
Prayer · Siddur · Amidah
Did prayer begin with the Patriarchs or the Temple sacrifices? The Talmudic debate, Hannah as the model of personal prayer, and the laws and spirit of the Amidah.
Request
I assemble bespoke source sheets for shiurim, retreats, and adult-ed series. Tell me the topic and the audience.
Email a request →Lifecycle & Pastoral Care
Among the deepest honors of the rabbinate is being present at the thresholds of a person’s life — the moments of becoming, of commitment, of transformation, and of loss. I bring the same preparation, attentiveness, and care to these occasions that I bring to the bimah and the beit midrash.
Bar and Bat Mitzvah is not simply a performance — it is a young person’s first real act of owning their place in the chain of Jewish tradition. Preparation goes beyond trope and Torah reading: students learn to understand what they are chanting, to connect their parsha to their own life and moment, and to deliver a d’var Torah that is genuinely theirs.
I have tutored students across a wide range of backgrounds and learning styles, including students who face particular learning challenges. My goal is that every student arrives prepared, proud, and present — not just ready to get through the day, but eager to begin what comes next.
Individual tutoring · in-person or remote
Choosing to become Jewish is one of the most profound acts a person can undertake. I approach conversion study with the same seriousness and warmth the tradition itself calls for — drawing on the model of Ruth and Naomi, who understood that the journey toward belonging is both intellectual and relational.
I offer individualized learning for conversion candidates, covering the breadth of Jewish practice, history, law, and theology, while making room for the personal questions and spiritual searching that are inseparable from this process. Experienced accompanying students through Conservative conversion under rabbinical court supervision.
One-on-one study · candidates at any stage
A Jewish wedding is among the most theologically rich ceremonies in any tradition — a gathering of community around the creation of a new household in Israel, suffused with joy, prayer, and ancient symbol. I work closely with couples in advance of the ceremony to ensure that every element reflects who they are and what they are building together.
I officiate at Jewish weddings that honor the full beauty of traditional wedding liturgy while remaining accessible and meaningful to guests across all backgrounds — both timeless and unmistakably personal.
Consultation available · Jewish ceremonies
The Jewish tradition has developed one of the most humane and psychologically sophisticated frameworks for illness, dying, death, and mourning — a framework built on the conviction that the dying person retains full dignity and that the bereaved deserve both structure and space. It is my honor to provide pastoral accompaniment during serious illness, to officiate at funerals and graveside services, and to support families through shiva and the early weeks of mourning.
I approach this work with the unhurried attentiveness it demands. No two losses are the same, and I do not treat them as if they were.
Pastoral care · funerals · shiva · ongoing bereavement
Connect
Whether you are a community seeking a teacher-in-residence, an editor or publisher with a project, a student wanting to learn, or someone who encountered a teaching and wants to continue the conversation — I would be glad to hear from you.
Available for workshops, Shabbat scholar-in-residence programs, adult education courses, academic speaking invitations, and writing commissions in Hasidic thought, Jewish mysticism, exile and diaspora, Jewish ethics, prayer and liturgy, and contemporary Jewish theology.
“Two who sit together and there are words of Torah between them, the Shekhinah rests between them.” — Pirkei Avot 3:2