Change Agents of the Liberal Cantorate:In Celebration of the DFSSM’s 75 th Anniversary: Debbie Friedman

Debbie Friedman

(1951-2011)

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

When I celebrated my 10th anniversary as senior cantor of Temple B’nai Jeshurun, Debbie Friedman joined me on the bima and began her remarks by saying that ours was an “extraordinary, but a complicated relationship.” Indeed, ours was.

Soon after I graduated from the HUC-JIR in 1972 and assumed my first pulpit in Albany, I took my youth group to Kutz Camp in Warwick, New York. This was the hey-day of NFTY, and hundreds of teenagers would gather in the dining room for song sessions following every meal. There was an incredible energy and the voices melded together in glorious melody and harmony. Mind you, I had just finished 5 years of cantorial studies and I had no clue what they were singing.

We had studied the classics of Jewish music, but we were not unfamiliar with contemporary and popular Jewish music. This was the era of Naomi Shemer and Nurit Hirsch and the high-spirited music of the Israeli and Chasidic Song Festivals. I had studied and performed the pioneer folk-rock services of Gershon Kingsley and Ray Smolover.

Bruce Benson and I wrote one that was published even before my ordination. But the music I heard at Kutz was of a unique genre. It was infectious, it was powerful, it could evoke tears or cheers. It could rouse and engage even the most cynical of teens. It was, quite simply, magical. Who was the composer of much of this music? It was a young woman in her early 20’s by the name of Debbie Friedman. I quickly learned to sing and to love her songs: Sing Unto God, Not By Might, Kumi Lach, Thou Shalt Love, and countless others which flowed from her creative genius over the subsequent years.

Debbie was a product of NFTY, serving as a song leader in various URJ camps. She was influenced by Joan Baez, Judy Collins; Peter, Paul and Mary, and the protest movement of the 1960’s. Her first album, Sing Unto God, was released in 1972, followed by 19 more over the next four decades. Despite her widespread acclaim, there were obstacles that she faced.

I quote from one of the many news stories that were published after her passing:

“Despite the popularity of her music, Friedman was an outsider in the Jewish musical establishment for most of her life. Not only did Friedman have no cantorial training, she never finished college. And she long faced resistance from cantors, rabbis and others who considered her music inappropriate in synagogue.”

It was for this reason that Debbie characterized our early relationship as “complicated.” My colleagues and I viewed her with suspicion and fear. She was revolutionizing synagogue music, overturning the established order. What were her credentials? Had the movement sold out to a guitar-strumming song leader who might be sounding the death knell of the cantorate? Was our cantorial training anachronistic and in vain?

Fear has a way of blinding the eye and obscuring rational thought. Rather than embracing Debbie and her music, she was shunned by the established cantorial community. It wasn’t until the mid-90’s when I was introduced to her and encountered first-hand her gentle demeanor, her soulful presence, her sharp wit, her courage, and her deep spiritual connection to Judaism and the Jewish people that I realized we had truly missed the mark. Debbie never presented herself as a rabbi or a cantor. She never thought of herself as a Jewish leader, although she was. In her own words:

“I am a Jew because I know that it is not meant for me to do this work alone. I am engaged both with the Holy One and with all of those with whom I am involved. I am a Jew because I know the world that you and I and many others like us envision is a world yet to be created by us. I am a Jew because despite all the hatred and violence in this world, I believe we must hope and live together as if the world were sheltered beneath the wings of the Shekhinah. We must live as if we were enveloped in a world of love and compassion….Often, we dreamers are laughed at for our lofty thoughts. In truth it is love and peace that are two values that cannot be touched or defiled by anyone. They are held in one’s heart and soul in the most sacred parts of us and they soar to the highest heights in the heavens.”

And so, in the spring of 1999, when I was completing my tenure as Executive Vice President of the American Conference of Cantors, I invited Debbie to address the membership at our annual convention. Debbie looked at me and said “you must be joking...they’ll lynch me! It would be like putting a lamb in the lion’s den” I assured her that I would protect her, and it was time that t’shuvah and healing took place. If my colleagues could only get a glimpse into the soul of this remarkable person, I had no doubt that she would be embraced under those sheltering wings of which she often spoke. So, with trepidation, she came to Massachusetts and the cantorate, as I had hoped, fell in love with Debbie Friedman and embraced her with love, respect, and admiration.

In 2003, I urged the American Conference of Cantors to recognize her seminal contributions to Jewish music and elect her an Honorary Member of the Conference. This we did at the 50th Annual Convocation at Temple Emanu-El in New York City. I sponsored her and offered these words of tribute to her:

“Like her Biblical namesake, Deborah Lynn Friedman has left an indelible mark on the Jewish people. Our modern-day Deborah’s songs have brought us the timeless message of hope and spiritual uplift. For over three decades, her voice and her presence have touched the hearts and souls of young and old. She has taught us that music has great healing power, that melody can move mountains, and that simple and heartfelt song can unburden a weakened spirit and bring joy to a troubled soul. Through melody, word, and personal example, she has taken us to places we did not know, and thereby taught us of the joy of life and how to open our souls to receive God’s blessings. Through her warmth, her creativity, and her faith in the basic goodness of humanity, she has engaged and ennobled our spirits. Her work is nothing less than a total commitment to bringing peace and understanding into the lives of others for, in all others, she sees the face of God.”

As bereft as we all were by her untimely passing and as deeply as we mourned her loss, the light of her spirit burns even brighter today. The Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music is not only a fitting tribute to her memory but it a powerful acknowledgement of a dynamic modern-day Sulzer who changed the landscape of Jewish music. – “not by might and not by power, but by spirit alone.”

As a tribute to Debbie’s enduring spirit, my colleague, Professor Merri Lovinger Arian, dear friend and leading interpreter of Debbie's work, curated and produced a virtual kumsitz marking her 10th yarhtzeit. The program drew thousands of viewers from around the world who tuned in to celebrate her musical impact. Two years later, Professor Arian's student, Cantor Becky Mann ‘23, offered her master’s recital entitled “The Ripples of Debbie Friedman” which illustrated the ways in which Debbie’s work influenced a subsequent generation of composers -- a moving example of how a great teacher's Torah passes to the students of the students. 

So long as her songs are sung, and so as long as we are committed to the values she embodied, for as long as we remember and are inspired by the gifts of her compassionate heart, her inquisitive mind, and her profound soul, Debbie Friedman will have achieved a measure of immortality which death cannot sever. Rest well my friend, sleep with the angels. We miss you dearly. To paraphrase your words, l’chi lach - go on your eternal journey and know that you have been a blessing to us all.