International Folk Dancing in Montana

Click here to return to the home page.

Birchot Havdalah

Modern Israeli Dance

Choreography: Rafi Ziv
Music: Debbie Friedman

Both dance notes and music are available for download from this site.

The Dance

Israeli Dance Videos on Les Posen's .mac homepage I was introduced to this dance by Ken Charkow in Calgary, Alberta, in 2003, and later studied a short video clip (thanks to Les Posen) of Rafi Ziv demonstrating it. All notes, and therefore all errors and omissions, are by Cris Jones.

Birchot Havdalah dance notes.doc 118kB Microsoft Word document
(Four pages - sorry if I went a bit overboard.)


The Music

Debbie Friedman and her record label, Sounds Write Productions, have very generously released this modified version of her 2002 recording of Birchot Havdalah for distribution among the folkdance community. You may download the song for free, and you may play it and dance to it, but of course you may not sell it.

If you would like to download a copy of this song, please read Sounds Write's very gracious and fair permission statement first. If you choose to pass the music on to someone else, please include the permissions as well. We wish to extend our own thanks to Ken Avner for making all this available.

February 21, 2002
Phil Moss
Philip_b_moss @hotmail.com

Dear Phil:

Thank you for contacting Sounds Write Productions, Inc. for permission to adapt Debbie Friedman's composition Birchot Havdalah for use in the Israeli dance community, with the folk dance choreographed by Ravi Ziv. We understand that you have modified the existing cut of this song from Debbie's recording THE WORLD OF YOUR DREAMS, on an MP3, and wish to make it available to other dance instructors. As Debbie's publisher we are delighted that you have used Debbie's music in this way. We are always pleased when her compositions are given the opportunity to reach more people.

Because the MP3 will not be for sale, there is no royalty due. If future copies are made for sale, please contact us again, and we will draft the appropriate license and fee agreement.

You have our permission to use the one (1) song listed above and ask that you credit Debbie in the following way:

RecordTitle/No. "Birchot Havdalah" from THE WORLD OF YOUR DREAMS
Modified version used with permission
Music by Debbie Friedman
Lyrics from Havdalah liturgy
Artist 1976 Deborah Lynn Friedman (ASCAP)
Publisher Sounds Write Productions, Inc. (ASCAP)

In addition, we request that you include in the email you plan to send to friends and colleagues in the Israeli dance community, the following:

"For information on obtaining permissions or licenses for the use of Birchot Havdalah by Debbie Friedman , or any of her compositions, on audio or video recordings or for public performances, contact Sounds Write Productions, Inc. at: soundswrite@aol.com or 1-800-9-SOUND-9."

Thank you for sending me the demo copy of the MP3 you have made, containing both variations of the dance. It is important for me to be aware of any use of Debbie's music, so I greatly appreciate your cooperation. I hope your colleagues enjoy using the MP3 to teach the dance!

B'shalom,

Randee Friedman, President
Sounds Write Productions, Inc.
randee@soundswrite.com

Thanks again to Sounds Write, Randee and Debbie. And now the music!

Birchot_Havdalah.mp3 3.6 Mb MPEG audio file, 160kbps
Most browsers will try to play the file if you simply click the link. To download the file, you can right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac) to open a menu, and select "Save Target As.." or "Download Link To Disc" (or other browser-specific wording). And if you're using Linux, you're on your own, but you're probably used to that.