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Shlomo Carlebach , known as Reb Shlomo to his followers, (14 January 1925, Berlin — 20 October 1994, Canada) was a Jewish rabbi, religious teacher, composer, and singer who was known as "The Singing Rabbi" during his lifetime. Although his roots lay in traditional Orthodox yeshivot, he branched out to create his own style combining Hasidic Judaism, warmth and personal interaction, public concerts, and song-filled synagogue services. At various times he lived in Manhattan, San Francisco, Toronto and Moshav Mevo Modi'im, Israel.
Carlebach is considered by many to be the foremost Jewish religious songwriter of the 20th century. In a career that spanned 40 years, he recorded more than 25 albums that continue to have widespread popularity and appeal. His influence also continues to this day in "Carlebach minyanim" and Jewish religious gatherings in many cities around the globe.
Carlebach was also considered a pioneer of the Baal teshuva movement ("returnees to Judaism"), encouraging disenchanted Jewish youth to re-embrace their heritage, using his special brand of music, songs, and inspiring story telling.
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Shlomo Carlebach was descended from old rabbinical dynasties in pre-Holocaust Germany. He was born in 1925 in Berlin, where his father, Rabbi Hartwig Naftali Carlebach (1889–1967), was an Orthodox rabbi. The family left Germany in 1931 and lived in Baden bei Wien, Austria and by 1933 in Switzerland.
Carlebach emigrated to Lithuania in 1938 where he studied at a yeshiva. In 1938 his father became the rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jacob, a small synagogue on West 79th Street in New York City's Upper West Side. Carlebach came to New York in 1939 via Great Britain. He and his twin brother Eli Chaim took over the rabbinate of the synagogue after their father's death in 1967.
Carlebach studied at Yeshiva Torah Vodaas and Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn, New York, and Beth Medrash Gevoha in Lakewood, New Jersey. His aptitude for Torah study was recognized by great Torah scholars and teachers, among them Rabbi Shlomo Heiman, and the Rosh Yeshiva of Bais Medrash Gevoha, Rabbi Aharon Kotler. He was considered one of the top students of Rabbi Kotler. Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner, who gave Carlebach Semikha, considered it a loss to the Torah world that he chose a career in musical Jewish outreach over one as a scholar and teacher . During his yeshiva studies he was often asked to lead the services as a hazzan.
Carlebach became a disciple of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, the sixth Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. From 1951-1954, he worked as one of the first emissaries (shluchim) of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe who urged him to use his special skills and go to college campuses to reconnect Jews to Judaism.
In 1972, he married Elaine Neila Glick, a teacher. They had two daughters, Nedara (Dari) and Neshama. Neshama Carlebach is a songwriter and singer in her own right, basing herself on her father's style and name.
Carlebach began writing songs at the end of the 1950s, primarily based on verses from the Tanakh or the Siddur set to his own music. Although he composed thousands of songs, he could not read musical notes. Many of his soulful renderings of Torah verses became standards in the wider Jewish community, including Am Yisrael Chai ("[The] Nation [of] Israel Lives"—composed on behalf of the plight of Soviet Jewry in the mid-1960s), Pischu Li ("Open [for] Me [the Gates of Righteousness]") and Borchi Nafshi ("[May] My Soul Bless [God]"). His public singing career began in Greenwich Village, where he met Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger and other folk singers.
He moved to Berkeley for the 1966 Folk Festival. After his appearance, he decided to remain in the San Francisco Bay Area to reach out to what he called "lost Jewish souls"—runaways and drug-addicted youth. His local followers opened a center called the House of Love and Prayer in the Inner Richmond district of San Francisco, to reach out to disaffected youth with song and dance and communal gatherings. He became known as "The Singing Rabbi." Through his infectious music and his innate caring many Jews feel that he inspired and reconnected thousands of Jewish youngsters and adults, otherwise lost to Judaism.
Some Carlebach melodies were entered in Israel's annual Hasidic Song Festival.
In 1969, his song Ve'haer Enenu, sung by the Shlosharim won first prize. The Hasidic festivals were a yearly event that helped to popularize his music. He also produced albums with a more liturgical sound. Some of the musicians he worked with during this period added a psychedelic tinge and a wider range of backup instrumentation. Carlebach now spent much of his time in Israel, living in Moshav Me'or Modi'im.Carlebach's songs were characterized by relatively short melodies and traditional lyrics. His catchy new tunes were easy to learn and became part of the prayer services in many synagogues around the world.
Returning to New York City Carlebach also became known for his stories and Hasidic teachings. As part of his performances he spoke of inspirational subjects, rooted in Hasidism and Kabbalah. Some of his teachings have been published by his students and appear alongside his recorded songs. Carlebach spread the teachings of Chabad, Breslov, and popularized the writings of, among others, the Rebbe Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Ishbitz and Rebbe Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piasetzno.
Carlebach died of a heart attack on a flight to Canada. His body was flown to Israel for burial at Har HaMenuchot. During the funeral the mourners sang Carlebach's songs, including Chasdei Hashem Ki Lo Samnu. Israel's Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau gave a eulogy. An annual memorial service is held on the 17th of Cheshvan at Carlebach's grave site. Additional memorial events take place throughout Israel and around the world.
According to Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt, Carlebach "changed the expectations of the prayer experience from decorous and sombre to uplifting and ecstatic as he captivated generations with elemental melodies and stories of miraculous human saintliness, modesty and unselfishness."
During his lifetime, Carlebach was often regaled a pariah status, marginalized by many of his peers. Being that in his yeshiva years he had excelled in Talmud studies, many had hoped that he would later become a Rosh Yeshiva or a simaliar figure, many harbored ill will toward his chosen path in music and outreach.
In the years since his death Carlebach's music has been embraced by many faiths as spiritual music. His music can be heard today in synagogues, Carlebach minyanim, churches, gospel choirs and temples worldwide. Many musical groups state that they draw inspiration from Carlebach and his music including Matisyahu, Chaim-Dovid Saracik, Benyamin Steinberg, Moshav Band, Soulfarm, Reva l'sheva, Naftali Abramson, Shlomo Katz, Eitan Katz, Yehuda Green, Aharon Razel, Kol Yaakov and others. Various community leaders and rabbis were influenced by him; these include Rabbis Meir Fund, Naftali Citron, Nosson Schafer, Avraham Arieh Trugman and others.
A musical written about his life "Soul Doctor", by Daniel Wise was presented as a limited engagement off-Broadway in 2008 and in New Orleans in 2010, and was received with critical acclaim. The musical will open on Broadway in 2012 after a six-week engagement in Florida and stars multi-Grammy and Platinum artist India.Arie portraying Nina Simone. A documentary film about Carlebach directed by Boaz Shahak, "You Never Know," was released at the Jerusalem Film Festival that same year in 2008.
Carlebach's approach towards kiruv (the popular Hebrew term for Orthodox Judaism outreach) was often tinged with controversy. Put most favorably, "He operated outside traditional Jewish structures in style and substance, and spoke about God and His love in a way that could make other rabbis uncomfortable."
After his death, Lilith magazine, a Jewish feminist publication, catalogued allegations of sexual impropriety against him. Specific, named accusers are quoted in this article, as well as unnamed sources and Jewish communal leaders with knowledge of the allegations. The publication of these allegations was controversial, lodged, as they were, at a time Carlebach could not respond to his accusers.
Shlomo Carlebach
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