Carlebach, Shlomo (1925–1994)
Zalman Alpert
Shlomo Carlebach was a well-known Jewish religious singer and neo-Hasidic rabbi and teacher. Carlebach was born in Germany into a well-known German rabbinic family. His father, grandfather, and various uncles were all Orthodox rabbis in Germany. His uncle, Rabbi Josef Carlebach, was the last chief rabbi of Hamburg, and rather than leave his congregants, he chose to die a martyr’s death under the Nazis. After the advent of the Nazi regime, Shlomo’s father, Rabbi Dr. Naphtali H. Carlebach, took his family to the United States. Although strictly Orthodox, Rabbi Naphtali Carlebach was an adherent of the school of the German Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, who stressed the integration of Torah study with secular culture. Settling in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, the senior Carlebach assumed the pulpit of a large, mainstream Orthodox synagogue on Eastern Parkway. The young Carlebach and his twin brother Eli Chaim were for the first time exposed to Hasidism in an intensive manner. Although Carlebach studied in a so-called Lithuanian yeshiva in Lakewood with the great Talmudist Rabbi Aaron Kotler and at Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn under Rabbi Isaac Hutner, his chief spiritual influences were the sixth and seventh Lubavitcher rebbes, Rabbi Joseph I. Schneerson (died 1950) and his son-in-law Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson (died 1994), both of whom resided in Crown Heights. In addition, Carlebach was influenced by several other Hasidic masters, such as the Bobover rebbe, Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam, and the Modsitzer rebbe, Rabbi Saul Y. Taub (died 1948). Thus, Carlebach identified with both the yeshiva world and the world of Hasidim, particularly Chabad.
Carlebach was known both as a good Talmudic scholar—a scholar of Hasidic thought—and a fine singer of Hasidic melodies. His brother Eli Chaim even married into the Schneerson family and became an official in the court of the sixth Lubavitcher rebbe.
In the early 1950s, Carlebach, with his friend Rabbi Zalman Schachter, traveled to various colleges and universities seeking to spread the message of Orthodox Judaism as unofficial emissaries of the seventh Lubavitcher rebbe. Carlebach and Schachter gained a reputation among many spiritually attuned young Jews as spiritual teachers. Although they remained lifelong friends, Schachter and Carlebach traveled different roads in spreading Jewish spiritual thought. Carlebach also embarked on a singing career. Blessed with a wonderful voice, he started singing songs he had written based on biblical passages, especially from the Psalms. His first fans were students at various yeshivas in greater New York. By the late 1950s, a wider audience was attracted to Carlebach’s combination of American folk and Hasidic music, which he accompanied on his own guitar. Carlebach performed at West Village coffee houses, concert halls, homes of his followers, and at synagogues. Carlebach morphed not only into a singer but also into a storyteller and neoHasidic rebbe, offering spiritual teachings to his followers. By the late 1960s Carlebach was recognized by many as a New Age Jewish guru. In the early 1960s both Carlebach and Schachter split from the official Lubavitch movement, mainly because of the Orthodox practice of strict public separation of the sexes. Carlebach was known to hug and caress female fans, a practice frowned upon by the Orthodox and Hasidic communities. This practice hurt Carlebach’s reputation among the Orthodox during his lifetime, and the issue of his relations with women was raised in a controversial article in Lilith magazine after he died.
With the arrival of the sexual revolution and the hippie period, Carlebach was to be found on the West Coast both singing and preaching Judaism in Berkeley to New Age spiritual followers. To cater to his newfound followers he started the “House of Love and Prayer” in Berkeley. Similar synagogues and drop-in centers were also functioning in Israel and other places in the United States. To Carlebach’s chagrin these places were constantly plagued by drug use and sexual promiscuity.
Following his father’s death in 1967, he also became co-rabbi of the Carlebach Synagogue on New York’s Upper West Side, together with his brother, Rabbi Eli Chaim, who by this time had become a Bobover Hasid. Eventually, this synagogue became the official center for Carlebach’s teachings and spiritual work; however, he was always in motion, going around the world and giving both commercial and unofficial concerts, as well as recording numerous record albums, all of which sold very well.
By the 1970s, Carlebach’s music had become the most popular musical format in the Orthodox Jewish world, even though Carlebach and his teachings were off limits to most Orthodox Jews. Exceptions to this were the Hasidic rebbes of Amshinov and Modsitz in Israel, who received Carlebach with open arms. Carlebach was also a pioneer in the Soviet Jewry movement, writing the song that became the anthem of this movement—“Am Yisroel Chai.”
In 1972, Carlebach was married to a Canadian school teacher, Neilah. They had two daughters together and soon after divorced. Until his death, Carlebach spent his time traveling about giving concerts and speaking at New Age conferences about Jewish spirituality. Although he attracted many people to Judaism, few stayed with him. Most moved on to other forms of Judaism. Carlebach would not give any official institutional structure to his movement. His followers in Israel lived on several communal settlements and were constantly beset by internal quarrels and by drug use.
At some point prior to his death, Carlebach made overtures to the Orthodox community about returning to the fold, but neither side seems to have been truly engaged in this process. Carlebach died suddenly on a flight to Canada. His followers were shocked at his death, and attempts were made to accord Carlebach the status of a Jewish “saint” on par with the Baba Sali and the Lubavitcher rebbe. It was only after his death that followers attempted to create a framework for his teachings through a series of institutions. But this was plagued by internal squabbles, between Carlebach’s wife and daughter Neshama, who sought the mantle of leadership, and other followers of both his teachings and musical style. Many Carlebach-style prayer groups sprung up after his death, marked by intensive congregational singing, mostly of Carlebach’s songs, and exhibiting an informal atmosphere. The official center of Carlebach followers seems to be his former synagogue, which is now led by his grand-nephew, Rabbi Naphtali Citron, a young Lubavitch follower. Neshama, his daughter, embarked on a singing career of her own but was hurt by Orthodox community restrictions against females singing in public. Her lack of intensive Jewish religious knowledge also hurt her. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach made a tremendous contribution to twentieth-century Jewish life by creating a new mode of religious spirituality through song. His influence as a teacher of Jewish spirituality affected many young Jews, but seemingly he failed to leave a lasting impact on the American Jewish religious community. His spiritual role has best been described by Rabbi Michael Lerner in an obituary in Tikkun magazine following his death. Lerner praised Carlebach’s efforts and teachings but described him as a “wounded healer.” Carlebach’s music continues to be available on CDs.
Further Reading:
Blustain, Sarah. “A Paradoxical Legacy: Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s Shadow Side.” Lilith, Spring 1998.
Dickter, Adam. “Facing A Mixed Legacy.” The Jewish Week, September 8, 2004.
Edelman, Marsha Bryan. “Reinventing Hasidic Music: Shlomo Carlebach.” MyJewishLearning.com, 2003.
Goldman, Ari L. “Obituary of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach.” New York Times, October 22, 1994.
Musleah, Rahel. “Shlomo Carlebach: The Music Man.” Hadassah Magazine, October 2008, 51–56.