ou s

Singer-
songwriter
Debbie
Friedman
breathes
new life
into
ancient
prayers.

voegaigialtilt

'60s folk movement, she acquired her first
12-string guitar. Without benefit of formal
musical training or a college degree, Ms.
Friedman began writing Jewish music as
a high-school senior.
After a post-graduation stint in Israel
caring for children in a kibbutz, she gained
notice in the United States as a song leader
at various Reform congregations and
Union of American Hebrew Congregations
summer camps. She clearly remembers
the first indication of the impact her mu-
sic could have.

"One night I went to a synagogue and
realized sitting there that I was bored," she
told the Los Angeles Times last year. "I re-
alized the rabbi was talking, the choir was
singing and nobody was doing anything.
There was no participation."
Later, on a bus bound for New York, a
melody came into her head. She married
it to the "V'ahavta" prayer — "And thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart" — and taught it to students at a con-
clave.
"All of a sudden they stood up, held

"Hers is the music of jubilation and

confirmation. It is a call to

community and commonality that

rages against the darkness and

spreads light."

— Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary

hands, and joined in this prayer," Ms.
Friedman recalls. "I realized something
powerful was happening."
"Her music captures a moment," says
Dan Freelander, a New York-based UAHC
staff member, rabbi, liturgical composer
and performer, who also got his start as
a song leader. "Folk had become the mu-
sic of the youth culture, but there was no
Jewish repertoire using acoustic guitars.
Then, she came along with blendings of
melodies and Jewish texts that sounded
like the American experience. It was mind-
blowing."
Ms. Friedman's exposure to campers co
and students, starting in the late '60s and
continuing to this day, established a viable —
market and appreciation for her music.
"The kids of the UAHC camps of the '60s
became the rabbis of the 1970s," says Rab-
bi Freelander. "And the rest of the kids are
now board members of congregations all <
over the country. They all walk around —)
with Debbie Friedman's music embedded 31
in their subconscious."

