Friday, January 7, 2011

Singer Debbie Friedman hospitalized | JTA - Jewish & Israel News

Singer Debbie Friedman hospitalized | JTA - Jewish & Israel News

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Songwriter Debbie Friedman has been hospitalized in Orange County, Calif.

Friedman is sedated and on a respirator, according to an email sent Wednesday from the West Coast branch of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. A source at the college told JTA Thursday there had been no change in Friedman's condition.

The email asked that prayers be said on Friedman's behalf, as well as for her mother, sister and aunt.

An immensely popular singer and songwriter, Friedman, who is in her late fifties, is widely credited with reinvigorating synagogue music by introducing a more folksy, sing-along style to American congregations. In 2007, she was appointed to the faculty of the Reform movement's cantorial school in a sign that her style had gained mainstream acceptance.

She is best known for her composition "Mi Shebeirach," a prayer for healing that is sung in many North American congregations.


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