January 9: Debbie Friedman

Debbie Friedman, who recorded 22 albums and composed Jewish liturgical and folk songs that are passionately spiritual, feminist, and progressive, died at 59 on this date in 2011. Friedman’s compositions included modern settings of traditional prayers as well as original songs in English. Her music, according to her New York Times obituary, is “sung by congregants in Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and some Modern Orthodox synagogues (as well as in some Christian churches)” and is “widely credited with having revitalized worship for a generation of postwar American Jews.” Friedman was self-taught and did not know how to read music; her success was at first seen as a threat by cantors and other clergy, but her popularity proved irresistible. The fact that she was a lesbian helped open the doors of the Jewish community to gay and lesbian inclusion. The Reform movement’s School of Sacred Music in New York, where she taught since 2007, is now called the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. “Feel the peace around you,/when you awaken you will come to know/that innocence and wonder/ are veiled by the guns and bombs and wars./But you must never run away,/the changes that will come will only be/the fruit of your hands, the breath of your being.” —Debbie Friedman, “Shelter of Peace”