Jewish fold singer Debbie Friedman has died as a result of complications from pneumonia. Friedman, who is reported to be in her fifties, died in an Orange County, California hospital. It is believed that Friedman was born around 1952.Jewish law requires that a person be buried as soon as possible after death – preferably 24 hours. Funeral services, open to the public, will be held on Tuesday January 11 at 11am at Temple Beth Sholom in Santa Ana, California.Music used in a synagogue is steeped in ritual generations old. Friedman, a folk singer and songwriter, has been credited with reinvigorating that music with contemporary sounds. In 2007 she was appointed to the Reform cantor school, a sign that her music was accepted into the mainstream. She is best known for her song “Mi Shebeirach” – a song for healing. Thought to be one of the most popular creators of Jewish music, when not touring Freidman was the cantor – the person who sings or chants the prayers - at the New Reform Congregation in Los Angeles.In her musical career, Friedman released over 20 albums and played to sold out venues including Carnegie Hall – where she recorded a live album n 1996. While children learned the ABC song from Big Bird and his pals, Jewish children learned the aleph-bet (Hebrew alphabet) to the music of Debbie Friedman. Taking from the great folk song performers of the sixties – Joan Baez, Peter, Paul, and Mary – Friedman first started writing songs for the Olin-Sang- Ruby Union Institute summer camp during the seventies.Speaking on Debbie Friedman, the Union of Reform Rabbis President Rabbi Eric Yoffie said, “Debbie Friedman was an extraordinary treasure of our movement and an individual of great influence. Twenty-five years ago, North American Jews had forgotten how to sing. Debbie reminded us how to sing, she taught us how to sing. She gave us the vehicles that enabled us to sing. Then she impacted our youth and our camps and, ultimately, from there she impacted our synagogues. What happens in the synagogues of Reform Judaism today—the voices of song—are in large measure due to the insight, brilliance and influence of Debbie Friedman.
