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By: Rabbi Neal I Borovitz, Rabbi Emeritus
Temple Avodat Shalom
, River Edge NJ.
Sing Unto God!! In Memory of Debbie Friedman
Our Torah reading this Shabbat includes the Song at the Sea, the poem sung by Moses and the Israelites after they traverse the Sea of Reeds unharmed. The Zohar, the mystical commentary on the Bible, examines the moment in the story just before the sea opens up – the moment when the Israelites are trapped between the Egyptian army and the sea:
Sing Unto God!! In Memory of Debbie Friedman
Our Torah reading this Shabbat includes the Song at the Sea, the poem sung by Moses and the Israelites after they traverse the Sea of Reeds unharmed. The Zohar, the mystical commentary on the Bible, examines the moment in the story just before the sea opens up – the moment when the Israelites are trapped between the Egyptian army and the sea:
The Torah text states:
“Pharaoh drew near and the Israelites caught sight of the Egyptians
advancing upon them. Greatly frightened, the Israelites cried out
to the Lord”
(Exodus 14:10).
“Pharaoh drew near and the Israelites caught sight of the Egyptians
advancing upon them. Greatly frightened, the Israelites cried out
to the Lord”
(Exodus 14:10).
The Zohar (2:47a) goes beyond the simple meaning of the verse and explains that “Pharaoh drew near” really means that Pharaoh caused the Israelites to draw near. Draw near to whom? To God. The Zohar draws a lesson from this interpretation: that the Jewish people draw near to God only when they are in distress – and suggests a parable.
The Jewish people are like a dove who is trying to escape a hawk. Seeking refuge in the cleft of a rock, she finds a serpent there. The dove, caught between these two enemies, flaps her wings and cries out to the owner of the dove to come to her rescue.
The Zohar (2:47a) goes beyond the simple meaning of the verse and explains that “Pharaoh drew near” really means that Pharaoh caused the Israelites to draw near. Draw near to whom? To God. The Zohar draws a lesson from this interpretation: that the Jewish people draw near to God only when they are in distress – and suggests a parable.
The Jewish people are like a dove who is trying to escape a hawk. Seeking refuge in the cleft of a rock, she finds a serpent there. The dove, caught between these two enemies, flaps her wings and cries out to the owner of the dove to come to her rescue.
I realized as I prepared this Dvar Torah that the Zohar is correctly describing the nature of most people. Most of us turn to God only when we personally or perhaps when we, communally, are in trouble. Debbie Friedman, whose fourth Yahrtzeit we commemorate this Shabbat, was a women who taught us to “Sing unto God” – in good times, as well as difficult moments in our personal or communal life. Through her songs and her soul Debbie Friedman transformed Jewish worship in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Four years ago, as I prepared for a festive Shabbat Shira, my joy was turned to sorrow; and like so many others within our movement and across the Jewish world, our songs to laments; by the death of Debbie Friedman, at age 59. What for me was an ominous twist of fate, one day earlier shots rang out in Tucson Arizona as a man with a gun attempted to murder another American Jew, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. As Debbie Friedman, my friend of 35 years since we first met in Houston, Texas in 1975 lay dying, and the Congresswoman was fighting for her life, I, like millions of other Jews around the world, found myself singing Debbie Friedman’s Misheberach, prayer for healing.
The text of the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15) describes the Israelites crossing of the Sea of Reeds as the armies of Egypt pursued them. The Biblical song concludes with a narrative note that Miriam, Moses’ sister, led the women in song. These words inspired one of Debbie Freidman’s many memorable compositions called Miriam’s song. The Biblical text and Debbie’s modern musical Midrash both teach us that the real miracle of the Sea was that the Jews had the faith in God, and in themselves, to take those first steps to freedom, despite the fears and threats that surrounded them. The legacy of Debbie Friedman is that we can each make the most of every moment of our lives, when we both count our blessings, and make time to give thanks to God and to our loved ones and community members who enrich our lives
Debbie Friedman, whose career began at a URJ Summer camp in Wisconsin, and whose prayer-filled words and melodies are sung round the world, was a woman who taught American Jews for the last 45 years of her life how to bring together our American heritage and our Jewish heritage, through song and prayer.
As I look back upon the life and death of Debbie Friedman, I realize that Debbie’s life with all of its trials was a resounding call to us, in good times and difficult moments, to “Sing Unto God”.
Debbie was a woman who confronted her physical infirmities with which she wrestled for the past 30 years by using them as an inspiration to help others cope and to bring joy to others. Her own illness 30 years ago led her to write the Misheberach prayer of healing that we and thousands of other communities use in our worship services. Her faith in God and in humankind was often challenged but never broke. She truly prayed and taught us as well to pray as if everything depended upon God, and through her acts of loving kindness she taught me and all who knew her that we must act as if everything depends upon us. As we read the Song of the Sea on this Shabbat may we remember Debbie Friedman and may we all sing her words in support of all those who are need of physical healing. May we also hear in Debbie’s Misheberach a challenge to heal the spiritual wound in our nation that leads us to apathetically continue to ignore the dangers of guns; to abdicate responsibility for the mentally ill; and to abuse our right of free speech by seeing it as license to spew hatred.
One of Debbie Friedman’s early recordings was her song “Sing Unto God” which was her adaptation and interpretation of Psalms 96 and 98 from the Kabbalat Shabbat section of the Friday night service. Even as Debbie faced some very serious medical challenges in the last half of her 60 years on earth, she never stopped ‘Singing unto God”. In fact it was her own neurological challenges that led her to write her Misheberach, a prayer for healing that has become a staple in Jewish worship across the religious streams. Rather than focusing upon her physical challenges, Debbie always saw her challenge, as how she could continue to spiritually fill her own Cup of Life and the Cups of Life of all whom she encountered both face to face and through her music.
Debbie Friedman never had children, but every one of us, in our movement in particular, is a child of Debbie, for in truth we have all been nurtured by her spirit. I therefore invite all who are reading this Dvar Torah to join me this Shabbat, in saying Kaddish for Debbie as well as dancing with timbrels in the aisles of our sanctuaries and the highways of our world, as we honor Debbie Friedman and “Sing unto God”