Debbie Friedman News Reports

Debbie Friedman

Debbie Friedman, Jewish American singer and songwriter Debbie Friedman, who has changed the voice of the American Jewish spirituality and prayer, died Sunday in a hospital in Orange County, California, the sources of the Union for Reform Judaism confirmed. Friedman was hospitalized with pneumonia.

Friedman began writing liturgical music as a Jewish group songleader the Union for Reform Judaism’s Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute summer camp in the early 1970s, the establishment of ancient texts and modern, accessible, singable melodies. She has published more than 19 albums of music inspired by
the great American folk music, English and Hebrew words and often the simple accompaniment of a guitar.On a personal note, Artson said Friedman “hit and raised” his soul to each CAJE conference, adding that meetings of its extended “Kaddish De-Rabbanan” reaches the darkest corners of my heart. ”
“You can measure its reach by almost everyone uses the melody havdalah, often without knowing it,” Artson, which holds the presidency Abner & Roslyn Goldstine Dean Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies School, said. “You can measure its impact by the fact that there is a profession rich in contemporary Jewish music where none existed outside the cantorate before it. You can measure the gift by the way it seems natural now to learn Torah and singing women, voices and words of women. And you can enjoy her gift in the bumper harvest of its huge collection of animated and spiritual songs. ”

Debbie Friedman Passed Away z"l 

Debbie Friedman, considered one of the most important figures in contemporary Jewish music, passed away at 5:49 am PST after being hospitalized for Pneumonia. The Orange County Register, reporting that she was in a medically induced coma, described her career as follows:

Friedman, who [was] in her late 50s, took the accessibility and contemporary elements of the ’60s folk movement and blended them with traditional melodies and prayers, has released more than 20 albums and performed throughout the world. The New York Times once wrote that Friedman “has created a powerful and euphoric body of work.” The Los Angeles Times called her “one of the foremost figures in contemporary Jewish music.”

Yaffa Weisman, a member of the faculty at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, where Friedman also teaches, stated that “Her music has transformed the world of Jewish prayer” She added that Friedman is the one composer whose songs are known by almost all Conservative or Reform Jews in the United States