Adrienne

By now you have probably heard the news. Last week we lost Adrienne Cooper, our friend, teacher, mentor, boss, activist, mother, spiritual mother, eyshes khayil and tireless inspiration.

(from the Yiddish Divas website)

Even after the beautiful memorial yesterday at Anshe Chesed, her loss feels unreal, shocking. How could she be gone? Adrienne wasn't just at the center of the Yiddish/Klezmer world, she seemed to be one of its permanent features, she had always been there and always would, in fact, just like a parent. In a scene where continuity was a hard fought battle, Adrienne was gor mamoshesdik, a solid link in the chain of continuity.

One of the best tributes to Adrienne has been this radio piece by Jon Kalish for WNYC. No story about Adrienne is really complete unless you get to hear her magnificent voice.

This tribute  by Jeffrey Shandler is also beautiful.  And please go to the terrific Jewish Women's Archive for a growing collection of memories and stories of Adrienne's life and her impact all over the world.

And please, if you don't own Adrienne's latest CD 'Enchanted' please buy it right away. It was one of the absolute best Jewish music CDs of the year.

We all owe so much to Adrienne. Now we owe it to her to honor her life and her legacy by keeping alive her vision of artistic exploration and social justice. Adrienne's family has asked that if you wish to make a donation in her memory, please do so with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice.