Sunday, January 9, 2011

May Your Memory Be a Blessing ...

Larry Kaufman Remembers Debbie Friedman

http://blogs.rj.org/reform/2011/01/debbie-friedman-zl.html

2 comments:

Larry Kaufman said...

Thank you for posting this link. My tribute to Debbie is one of several (and probably more to come) on the Reform Judaism website; and I am particularly struck by the transgenerational range of her admirers, of which I am probably the oldest.

Rabbi Knobel tells the story about being in a synagogue in the south of France, where Shalom Rav was sung to Jeff Klepper's melody. Afterwards, he asked the rabbi the source of the tune, and was told it was "miSinai," from Sinai, so long in the liturgy as to be untraceable.

So too with many of Debbie's melodies -- we sing them thinking that Jews have always sung them; but the reverse is the case -- we haven't always sung them, but now we always will.

Ellen Blum Barish said...

It's so true about the intergenerational nature of Debbie's music. That was her true art - blending words and ruach, giving her songs that forever and always, timeless quality. Thanks for your thoughts. EBB