fredi Bleeker Franks

Photo of woman with blond hair and wearing a white shirt and an orange sweater
Women of Reform Judaism

fredi Bleeker Franks serves as the Chair of RAC-TX. She belongs to Congregation Emanu El in Houston, TX where she volunteers on the congregation’s Social Justice Core Team and is the congregation’s Education VP. She is the e-news coordinator for WRJ Today, and was a long-time board member of the Women of Reform Judaism. She is currently a member of the Committee on Social Action and the URJ North American Board. In addition to those volunteer activities, fredi is a volunteer/docent at the Holocaust Museum Houston. She lives in Houston with her husband Paul and their pandemic puppy Tillman.

This Week's Torah Portion
Va-eira

Parashah Va-eira

fredi Bleeker Franks
I remember reading this story over and over when I was young. I remember it, of course, as the centerpiece of our family seder, when I would ask my mother “Why didn’t they just run away when they had the chance?” My mother had no answers for me. She just sighed and said that maybe someday I would understand. She told me that sometimes people lost all hope and that they were blind to the possibilities around them. As I get older and wiser, I think I am beginning to understand.
Torah scroll
Voices of WRJ

Parashah D'varim

fredi Bleeker Franks

 

Try to imagine Moses as he stands with the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan looking into the Promised Land; the land he will not be allowed to enter.

Torah scroll
Voices of WRJ

Voices of WRJ: Ki Tisa

fredi Bleeker Franks

This week’s Parashah, Ki Tisa, is chock full of good stuff. It includes directions for the first census, God’s additional instructions for building the tabernacle, rules for keeping Shabbat, and the golden calf episode and its aftermath.
Voices of WRJ

WRJ Voices: B'midbar

fredi Bleeker Franks

B’midbar, or "in the wilderness," is the name of both this week's Torah portion, the opening chapters of the Book of Numbers, and the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible. The Torah portion centers around two census counts ordered by God.

First Impressions of Home: Women’s Journey to Israel

fredi Bleeker Franks

There were so many details to work out - work budgets, social plans for my husband, flights and hotel for graduations, two weddings to plan for - that I really did not have time to think about my upcoming trip.