By: Hochberg H.R. No. 514
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, The great American composer and singer, Deborah Lynn
"Debbie" Friedman, has been credited with creating the genre of
contemporary Jewish worship music; and
WHEREAS, Debbie Friedman composed much of her early music
while residing in Houston, Texas from 1975 to 1984; and
WHEREAS, Her modern settings of traditional Hebrew liturgy
and original compositions are sung by congregants in Reform,
Reconstructionist, Conservative and some Modern Orthodox Jewish
synagogues, as well as in some Christian churches; and
WHEREAS, Debbie Friedman was called "the Joan Baez of Jewish
song," by the Jewish newspaper The Forward and recorded more than 20
albums, which together sold half a million copies, and her lyrics
have appeared on Hallmark greeting cards; and
WHEREAS, Her "Mi Shebeirach" prayer for healing is used by
hundreds of congregations across America and is a central part of
the Jewish healing movement, and her "Alef Bet Song" has been
performed by Barney, the purple dinosaur and has taught two
generations of Jewish children the Hebrew alphabet; and
WHEREAS, Deborah Lynn "Debbie" Friedman was born in Utica,
New York to Freda and Gabriel Friedman; and
WHEREAS, Debbie moved with her family to Minnesota at age 5,
where she was a 1969 alumna of Highland Park High School in Saint
Paul and a graduate of the after-school Hebrew school program at the
Talmud Torah of St. Paul; and
WHEREAS, She wrote her earliest songs as a song leader at the
overnight camp Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute in Oconomowoc,
Wisconsin and recorded her first album, "Sing Unto God", with the
choir of her former high school in 1972; and
WHEREAS, Rabbi Samuel Karff brought Ms. Friedman to Houston
in 1975, where she taught at Temple Beth Israel and at Congregation
Beth Yeshurun while writing many of her compositions and,
coincidentally, living in the district of Representative Paul
Colbert, who was her Hebrew school classmate for nine years in St.
Paul; and
WHEREAS, after leaving her many friends in Houston, Debbie
Friedman continued to compose and performed her songs in concerts
at venues throughout the world, including her live recordings to
sold-out audiences at Carnegie Hall and the Hotel del Coronado,
despite struggling with a debilitating neurological condition; and
WHEREAS, The story of her music, as well as the challenges she
faced in living with illness, were featured in a 2004 documentary
film called A Journey of Spirit; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Friedman became a teacher at Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion, first in New York and later
in Los Angeles and served on the board of the Academy for Jewish
Religion, CA; and
WHEREAS, Deborah Lynn Friedman succumbed to pneumonia on
January 9, 2011 and her memorial service on the opening day of this
Legislative Session was attended and watched on the internet by
almost ten thousand of her family, friends and admirers; and
WHEREAS, Deborah Lynn Friedman is survived by her mother,
Freda, and her sisters Cheryl Friedman and Barbara Egli; and
WHEREAS, Debbie Friedman's songs, including "Mi Shebeirach",
"L'chi Lach", "Miriam's Song", "Oseh Shalom", "Not By Might", "And
Thou Shalt Love", "The Alef Bet Song", "You Are the One", "This is
the Day" and many, many others have inspired and comforted millions
and will continue to be sung and remembered as a fitting legacy to
this caring and inspiring person; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby pay tribute to the life of Deborah Lynn "Debbie" Friedman and
extend sincere sympathy to the members of her family: to her mother,
Freda; to her sisters, Cheryl and Barbara; and to her other
relatives and many friends; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for her family.