He used his music to
inspire Jews around the world and was a pioneer of the Baal teshuva
movement. In a recording career that stretched over 30 years, Reb
Shlomo sang and recorded his songs on more than 25 albums.
BiographyShlomo
Carlebach was born in Berlin, where his father, Naftali, was an
Orthodox Judaism leader. The family, which fled the Nazis in 1933,
lived in Switzerland before coming to New York City in 1939. His
father became the rabbi of a small synagogue on West 79th Street,
Congregation Kehilath Jacob; Shlomo Carlebach and his twin brother,
Eli Chaim Carlebach, took over the synagogue after their father's
death in 1967.
He studied at several yeshivas including the Yeshiva Torah Vodaas
and Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn, New York and at the Bais
Medrash Gevoha in Lakewood, New Jersey
From 1951 to 1954, he worked as a traveling emissary of the Grand
Rabbi of Lubavitch, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
His daughter
Neshama Carlebach is a singer/songwriter who has written and
sung many songs of her own following her father's style.
Works
His singing career began in
Greenwich Village, where he met Bob Dylan and other folk singers,
and moved to Berkeley for the 1966 Folk Festival. After his
appearance, he decided to remain in the Bay Area to reach out to
what he called "lost Jewish souls," runaways and drug addicted
youths. Through his music and his special gifts many Jews feel that
he "saved" thousands of Jewish youngsters and adults. |
