Adam Sandler was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Sandler brought his two daughters, ages 2 and 4, to Tuesday\’s ceremony in front of the W Hollywood Hotel. His is the 2,431st star awarded on the walk.
Matisyahu turned 30 a year and a half ago, prompting a good deal of self-reflection.
Apple removed the anthem of the Nazi Party from the German iTunes online music store. The company on Wednesday removed the German marching song \”Horst Wessel Lied,\” the unofficial Nazi anthem, which was banned in Germany after World War II. It removed the song after the German newspaper Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung reported that it was available for sale online.
Ethan Bortnick was just 6 when he first appeared on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” playing snippets of piano works by Bach, Mozart and Scott Joplin. He even performed his own composition, “The Tiger Ran Away at the Zoo.” By that age, he had already raised $12 million for Miami Children’s Hospital. Since then, he has performed for the Chabad Telethon and the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces, among other charities.
Composer, Jewish liturgist, singer-songwriter, prayer leader extraordinaire, member of the lgbt community–Debbie touched our lives in ways too many to count. It was Debbie Friedman who taught the liberal Jewish world to pray for healing and just as there were special prayers offered worldwide (including at BCC) over the last few days for her healing, so now will there be prayers offered with the intent to comfort the many who mourn her loss, and to bring her soul to rest under the wings of Shekhinah.
When the New Reform Congregation [now Temple Kol Tikvah in Woodland Hills] was established in 1984, Debbie was our chazzan for 3 years. She responded, and the congregation was thrilled, as truly “the old dreamed new dreams and the youth saw visions.” Our shul was “alive to the sound of music” to Debbie\’s presence and her music. Debbie gave voice to the voiceless through her voice and her passion for justice.
R&B and soul-singer Macy Gray has asked her fans in a message on her Facebook status whether she should cancel scheduled concerts in Tel Aviv \”in protest of Apartheid against the Palestinians.\” \”I\’m booked for 2 shows in TelAviv. I\’m getting alot of letters from activists urging/begging me to boycott by NOT performing in protest of Apartheid against the Palestinians. What the Israeli government is doing to the Palestinians is disgusting, but I wana go. I gotta lotta fans there I dont want to cancel on and I dont know how my NOT going changes anything. What do you think? Stay or go?\” read the status posted Monday night.
Tribute services for the Debbie Friedman throughout Southern California.
To all of Debbie’s beloved fans who have inquired about making donations in her memory: A number of years ago, Debbie established the Renewal of Spirit Foundation with the goal of manifesting her life’s work and all that she stood for. Now, donations to the Renewal of Spirit Foundation will enable the projects that Debbie was working on at the time of her death to be completed. These funds will also support future projects reflecting her passions and commitments.
Singer-songwriter Debbie Friedman was eulogized at her funeral by friends, rabbis and fellow musicians in words and through her songs. Her acoustic guitar lay on top of her casket during Tuesday\’s funeral service at Temple Beth Sholom in Santa Ana, Calif., the Orange County Register reported. Friedman, whose music transformed Jewish worship in synagogues and summer camps, died Jan. 9 at the age of 59 after being diagnosed with pneumonia and admitted to a hospital a few days earlier. She blended the folk music roots of the 1960s and 1970s and combined them with traditional Jewish prayers and liturgy, and was frequently described as the \”Joan Baez of Jewish song.\”
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.