|
|
|
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 10 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 House of Representatives of 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. |
|
|
Hochberg |
|
|
|
Straus |
Gonzales of Williamson |
Morrison |
|
|
Aliseda |
Gonzalez |
Munoz, Jr. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anderson of Dallas |
Hancock |
Orr |
|
|
Anderson of McLennan |
Hardcastle |
Otto |
|
|
|
|
Beck |
Harper-Brown |
Patrick |
|
|
|
|
Bohac |
Hernandez Luna |
Pena |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Burkett |
Howard of Fort Bend |
Pitts |
|
|
Burnam |
Howard of Travis |
Price |
|
|
Button |
Huberty |
Quintanilla |
|
|
|
|
Callegari |
Hunter |
Reynolds |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Christian |
Keffer |
Schwertner |
|
|
Coleman |
King of Parker |
Scott |
|
|
Cook |
King of Taylor |
Sheets |
|
|
Craddick |
King of Zavala |
Sheffield |
|
|
Creighton |
Kleinschmidt |
Shelton |
|
|
Crownover |
Kolkhorst |
Simpson |
|
|
Darby |
Kuempel |
Smith of Harris |
|
|
Davis of Dallas |
Landtroop |
Smith of Tarrant |
|
|
J. Davis of Harris |
Larson |
Smithee |
|
|
S. Davis of Harris |
Laubenberg |
Solomons |
|
|
|
|
Driver |
Legler |
Taylor of Collin |
|
|
Dukes |
Lewis |
Taylor of Galveston |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Farias |
Mallory Caraway |
Veasey |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Frullo |
Martinez Fischer |
Weber |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Giddings |
Miller of Comal |
Zedler |
|
|
Gonzales of Hidalgo |
Miller of Erath |
Zerwas |
|
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
Speaker of the House |
|
|
I certify that H.R. No. 514 was unanimously adopted by a rising |
|
vote of the House on February 23, 2011. |
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
Chief Clerk of the House |
|