DEBBIE FRIEDMAN DIES

Debbie Friedman, one of the most important names in Jewish music, has sadly passed away early this morning. Previously she had to be hospitalized due to pneumonia (this was confirmed by the sources of the Union for Reform Judaism), and apparently was in a medically induced coma at the time of her death.

Debbie Friedman’s death arrived at 5:29am PST.

She was once called by the Los Angeles Times “one of the foremost figures in contemporary Jewish music.” In her career she published more than 19 albums that will live forever in history of contemporary Jewish music.

Debbie Friedman

DEBBIE FRIEDMAN DIES

Debbie Friedman

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.

Debbie Friedman

Debbie Friedman died

Debbie Friedman is seriously ill with pneumonia and is hospitalized in Orange County, She is being kept on a respirator and is in a medically induced coma. The name of the hospital has not been released.

Friedman is known for her contributions to contemporary Jewish music, with mostly religious content. She wrote many of her early songs as a song leader at the overnight camp Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin in the early 1970s.

Since her debut in 1971, she has published more than 19 albums. Her work is inspired by such diverse sources as Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary, and a number of folk music artists. She uses English and Hebrew lyrics and writes for all ages.

In 2004, A Journey of Spirit, a documentary film about Friedman, was produced by Ann Coppel.

In 2007, Friedman accepted an appointment to the faculty of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's School of Sacred Music in New York where she instructs both rabbinic and cantorial students.

In a statement, Rabbi Richard Levy of the Hebrew Union College said, “Please pray for Debbie’s recovery... She is a strong believer in the power of prayer, she has elevated so many prayers with her music, and has taught us how to pray through the melodies she has written.”

“Pray this week and on Shabbat, sing the songs that have accompanied your growing up, sing her Mi She-berach with all the power you have–get together with friends and colleagues and sing other songs of hers together – let her hear us in her bed in Orange County, and let the Holy One hear us in the heights of heaven.”

Debbie Friedman

Debbie Friedman died

Debbie Friedman

Over the course of her 36 year career, legendary American Jewish composer, singer, and recording artist, Debbie Friedman, has released over 20 albums (selling in excess of 500,000 units) and performed in sold out concerts at Carnegie Hall and in hundreds of cities around the world. Her work has been lauded by industry critics and she has been honored by numerous national and international organizations with their most prestigious awards.

Debbie is credited with creating a whole new genre of contemporary, accessible Jewish music. From the beginning of her career, she has taken the prayers, teachings and melodies of the Ancient Jewish Texts and set them to contemporary music. Because of her own powerful commitment, her belief in the expression of the values found in the text, as well as the quality and beauty of her songwriting abilities, her music is beloved by people of all ages and religions.

Debbie’s songs have universal appeal in part, because they speak to each listener in an intimate and personal way. One of the most famous, Mi-She-Beirach (the prayer for healing), is sung in synagogues and churches across the nation. Indeed, Debbie’s music is now performed in more synagogues around the world than any other living composer. An overview of her 36 year career is encapsulated on the CD Songs Of The Spirit: The Debbie Friedman Anthology.

For more than three decades, Debbie Friedman has given the world music that is transformative; offering joy and comfort, healing and inspiration. It is music that makes one’s soul sing.

Debbie Friedman