Religious musician Friedman reported in coma

Debbie Friedman, a beloved artist who for more than three decades has married Jewish sacred song to the folk music tradition, is seriously ill in a Southern California hospital.

Cantor Bruce Ruben, director of the School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Manhattan - where Friedman taught from 2007 until last spring - said Friedman is in an Orange County hospital ill with pneumonia.

Ruben said people that he's spoken with who are close to the situation tell him that Friedman is in an induced coma. His account is consistent with reports in the Jewish media and The Orange County Register.

Friedman has not responded to various treatments, Ruben said.

"Of course, we are all very upset and the school is very upset," he said.

Ruben called Friedman a pioneer who has had a "tremendous impact" on contemporary Jewish practice by bringing a folk approach to liturgical music. Ruben described her as an "electric" performer. Her website says she has released more than 20 albums.

"Some of her songs will be standard in our services for as long as I can imagine," he said.

She is best known for her composition "Mi Shebeirach," a prayer for healing that is sung in many North American congregations.

"It is a strange thing that pain creates beauty and potential for healing. It is hard to imagine that it can provide a foundation for beautiful moments to arise," Friedman says on her website. "The willingness to both offer and receive blessings of healing and well-being allows one who is wounded to transform and unravel their pain."

A healing service for Friedman is scheduled for Sunday at 8 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. The JCC is at 334 Amsterdam Ave. at 76th Street.