Myrna Rabinowitz
Myrna Rabinowitz is a singer and songwriter of Jewish music. She has recorded seven albums of Jewish music: three with Vancouver’s Jewish World Music band Tzimmes in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino; two albums of Jewish sacred music with the group Shir Hadash including Hanna Tiferet Siegel and Harley Rothstein in Hebrew and English; her first solo album “Hashiveinu” which includes original soulful music for Shabbat prayers and blessings for life’s celebrations from birth to marriage; and she has recently released her first solo album in Yiddish, her mameloshn (mother tongue) with five of her original songs in Yiddish. Myrna has performed in Canada, the United States and internationally and is well known for her heartfelt interpretation of Jewish song. Through her music, her song and her voice, we are transported.

The daughter of holocaust survivors, Myrna grew up in a Yiddish- speaking home in Montreal where she developed her love and appreciation for Jewish music. The seeds of creating original music for prayer were planted by Rabbis Daniel and Hanna Tiferet Siegel in the early beginnings of the Or Shalom community in Vancouver. Composing new  music for Yiddish poetry followed. Writing original Yiddish songs began after the loss of parents and the birth of grandchildren.

In addition to her music, Myrna has dedicated her life to her family and to language teaching, mainly in the immigrant community as an ESL Instructor and ESL Teacher Trainer at Vancouver Community College. She has also taught Yiddish at the Vancouver Peretz Institute, the Vancouver Jewish Community Centre and at Or Shalom. Myrna was first trained as an elementary school teacher in Montreal where she taught for a number of years. Myrna has three grown children, is married to Barry Rabinowitz, and lives in Vancouver, Canada.