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For those who know Debbie's music, it has
become a treasured part of their lives - a CD listened to every
morning on the way to work in order to focus and prepare for the
day, or a song like "Mi Shebeirach", bringing respite and hope into
countless lonely hospital rooms. For children and adults alike,
Debbie's music is living Judaism - from her they learned the Hebrew
alphabet, through her they came to love prayers that might otherwise
have remained strings of foreign words, unrelated to their lives.
With Debbie's honest, pure voice as their guide, a whole generation
of Jews has come to embrace the words of the prophets and see in
the message of the Rabbis and Cantors of old, the spiritual meaning
and relevance they seek. Debbie's music gives voice to the soul
that modern life too often ignores - the soul of individuals and
the soul of our People.
A singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Debbie has recorded 19 albums.
Originally influenced by American popular music of the 1960's and
70's -- Peter, Paul & Mary, Judy Collins, Joan Baez and Joni
Mitchell -- she in turn has been influencing younger singers and
songwriters with her own dynamic style. Debbie's music is so fully
integrated into synagogue liturgy, that in many congregations it
is considered "traditional." Churches, schools, camps, and community
centers also find Debbie's extensive variety of songs to be valuable
additions for their teaching and worship use. Her melodies and lyrics
are licensed for hundreds of usages, in recordings, videos, songbooks,
prayer books, haggadahs, textbooks, teaching manuals, children's
books, healing publications, new ritual and self help books, and
internet websites. Her work appears in diverse settings from the
Barney In Concert video (The Alef Bet Song) to an episode of "Strong
Medicine" on the Lifetime channel (The Healing Prayer - Mi Shebeirach).
Tree of Life, a division of Hallmark greeting cards, designed and
marketed a series of 12 holiday cards using Debbie's inspired lyrics.
Debbie's 1996 Carnegie Hall concert celebrated the 25th anniversary
of her distinguished musical career. She has performed in hundreds
of cities in the United States, Canada, Europe and Israel. She has
appeared before national conventions and conferences for major Jewish
organizations, including the General Assembly of Jewish Federations,
Hadassah, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Rabbinical Assembly,
Cantors Assembly, Wexner Heritage Foundation, Whizin Institute,
National Association of Temple Educators, National Association of
Temple Administrators, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Women
of Reform Judaism, World Union for Progressive Judaism, World Jewish
Congress, American Jewish Congress, American Jewish Committee, National
Federation of Temple Youth, and United Synagogue Youth. Debbie served
as cantorial soloist for three years at the New Reform Congregation
in Los Angeles, California. As a music educator, she directed the
music component of the intensive Hebrew Chalutzim program at Olin-Sang-Ruby
Union Institute in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin where she continues to
co-lead Hava Nashira, the annual songleading and music workshop
she created. She has served on the faculty of the Jewish Perspectives
on Care at the End of Life Symposium at Duke University Divinity
School in Durham, North Carolina, the Summer Institute for Jewish
Educators, co-sponsored by the University of Judaism and the Whizin
Institute in Los Angeles, the Kalsman Institute of Hebrew Union
College, the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York, the Elat Chayyim
Jewish Spiritual Retreat Center in the Catskill Mountains of New
York, the Brandeis Bardin Institute in Brandeis, California, and
the Union of American Hebrew Congregations summer Kallah programs
held at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, the University
of California at Santa Cruz, and Franklin Pierce College in Rindge,
New Hampshire. Debbie teaches workshops, directs a 300 person chorale,
performs in concert and spiritually inspires the several thousand
delegates who attend the annual conference of the Coalition For
The Advancement of Jewish Education.
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