A PLACE TO BELONG

An impassioned musician shared her talents globally.

Jewish singer/songwriter Debbie Friedman (1951-2011) loved music and her faith. When she was a child, her family moved from upstate New York to St. Paul, Minnesota, where she felt adrift before enrolling in Hebrew school. Deeply religious, she found solace in prayers and rituals. Later, working at a Jewish summer camp, she found comfort in music and grew to love the popular folksongs of the 1960s. Yearning to play guitar, Friedman worked hard to earn money to buy her own instrument. As a skilled guitarist, she led singalongs at Jewish youth group meetings and synagogues around the United States. Friedman wished to emphasize Jewish music at her concerts to help Jews connect, spiritually and musically. She began to compose songs, setting English translations of Hebrew prayers to her original tunes. Shortly after writing her first song, she introduced it to a youth group, and the teens wholly embraced it. Eventually, the author avers, Friedman’s religious songs brought Jews of all ages and levels of spirituality together. Friedman’s story should be more widely known. However, this book, written in present tense, is superficial, though her passion comes across. The illustrations are colorful but otherwise undistinguished and static. There is no glossary or pronunciation guide, which would have helped with some Yiddish and Hebrew words. This volume will be best appreciated in Jewish-school and synagogue-library collections. Friedman and her family present White; background characters are diverse in terms of age and race. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A niche offering.