Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach
in
The Jerusalem Report
Yael Levine
A wealth of material about Shlomo Carlebach is
contained in the various daily newspapers published in Israel, as well as in
news magazines. Some of these papers, such as Ha'aretz and the Jerusalem Post,
have archives arranged according to subject. The material from more recent
years is searchable either by CD ROM database, in the case of the Post, or by
conducting an online search, in the instance of Ha'aretz, for both the English
and Hebrew editions, the English edition since September 1997 and the Hebrew
from May 1994. A
preliminary search of the CD ROM of the Post between the years 1990-1999 turned
up tens of references to Shlomo.
I resolved to check out the information pertaining
to Shlomo in The Jerusalem Report since its inception in September 1990. There
exists a CD ROM of the first five years, though the first issue, that of
September 1, 1990, is, for some reason, not included. This was supplemented
with a database search of all issues until the end of May 2000.
The search results showed that Shlomo was the
subject of several posthumous Report articles or features of differing lengths.
In addition, he was mentioned in various contexts in other articles, essays and
editorials both in his lifetime and following his death.
Yossi Klein Halevi paid tribute to Shlomo in
"The Pied Piper of Judaism," published in the issue following his
death. He offered general biographical details concerning Shlomo's life, and
stressed his quality of ahavat Yisrael. He noted that Shlomo
"sang wherever there were Jews, from American prisons to Indian
ashrams," and concluded, "He taught an orphaned generation numbed by
the Holocaust and assimilation how to return to joy."1
Shlomo's double-cassette album Sweetest Friends
and The Gift of Shabbos, recorded not long before his
death, was favorably reviewed by Yossi Klein Halevi. Sweetest Friends
"contains many new songs, among them some of his finest work, and reminds
one why Carlebach had no peers - and no successors." Of the two cassettes,
The Gift of Shabbos was, in Klein's opinion, the more successful.
On this cassette, Shlomo articulated that his deepest prayer was "that we
fill the world with a new song." He concluded by asserting that this
"album proves that no one in our generation did more than Shlomo Carlebach
to reinvigorate Jewish music and sing that new song."2
Miriam Shaviv chronicled the dissemination of
the Carlebach influence following his death in 1994, pointing out that
"his following has skyrocketed to levels possibly equaling the height of
his popularity, in the 50s and 60s." Friday night Carlebach-style prayer services were
cropping up in the United States and in Israel, and books about Carlebach were
being published.3 Shaviv
also told of the legal dispute
over his legacy, and the claims on the part of Neshama and Neila Carlebach for
the rights to Shlomo's music and teachings.4
The fact that various synagogues have
incorporated some of Shlomo's songs into their liturgy was noted in several
additional instances.
In a cover story feature, the plight of Jewish
singles was recorded and some of the existing social outlets were delineated,
amongst them the Friday night services at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, a haven
for singles. "The program consists of almost no formal praying, just
beautifully sung Shabbat hymns. The female cantor, with a warm vibrant voice
and a tallit over her shoulders, holds her hands aloft à la Tevye the Milkman;
her accompanyist is at the keyboard of an electric piano; the tunes are vintage
Shlomo Carlebach." The writer went on to parenthetically state that
Carlebach had his own synagogue not far away, which "has its own lively
Jewish singles scene. "5
In October 1998 the Saatchi Synagogue opened in
London in honor of Nathan and Daisy Saatchi, who emigrated from Iraq in the
1950's. The shul conducted
traditional services, though it was not affiliated with the Orthodox
United Synagogue, and drew many singles. The writer outlined its style of
prayer. "Services don't run for more than two hours; siddurs have English
transliteration; and there's lots of singing and dancing, Shlomo Carlebach
style." While this type of Orthodox congregation may be found both in
Israel and in the United States, "it is an innovation in far more staid
Britain."6
In an article on Orthodox Jewish music
performers, the lion's share of which was devoted to Avraham Fried, Calev
Ben-David stated that "Jewish spiritual music does indeed draw some fans
among non-Orthodox-Jews," citing the case of Shlomo Carlebach whose hits
appealed to the general Jewish audience as well. Avraham Fried, he said, dreamt
of the day when his music would be accepted among non-Jews as well, who would
then be hearing values about peace, love and redemption directly "from the
source."7
An article on Reva L'Sheva made note of Shlomo's
crucial impact on the band. The group's music was, as depicted, fused with
blues, country and "Carlebach's Jewish spirituals, influenced by the
Grateful Dead and set to an Afro-ethnic beat." The band, as portrayed in
the article, viewed themselves as aiming to foster and perpetuate Shlomo's
message of "love, peace and connection to God" and his mission of
"'bringing people together, creating a sense of friendship and happiness.'"
"Carlebach's ecumenicism" was also "reflected in the makeup of
the band. Three of four vocalists
are American immigrants, but they sing their original lyrics in Hebrew to a
predominantly sabra audience. Three are religious Jews, but the
Israeli-born...is secular." It was Yehudah Katz who produced Shlomo's last
recording. It was also stated that Katz accompanied Shlomo in 1989 on his
21-day tour of Russia. The opening section of the article related that Reva
L'Sheva once played Shlomo's "Song for Peace" in a concert that took
place in the old Jewish Quarter in East Berlin on Jerusalem Day.8
Ben-David's article "The Psalm Remains the
Same" was concerned with the Book of Psalms as the greatest lyrical
inspiration of all time, coinciding with a concert celebrating music set to the
Psalms, staged as part of the Jerusalem 3000 celebrations in the Sultan's Pool
amphitheater in 1996. "For over 2,500 years, these sacred lyrics have been
continuously sung throughout the world in synagogues, churches or concert
halls, and have inspired composers as diverse as Gregorian monks, Johann
Sebastian Bach, Igor Stravinsky and the 'Singing Rabbi' Shlomo Carlebach."9
In a cover story on the religious revival in
Israel it was reported that the renewed interest in Judaism is evident even in
the "Ashkenazi yuppiedom." It was recounted, among other things, that
Rabbi David Zeller, "ordained by the late mystical rabbi Shlomo
Carlebach," had been approached by a group of transcendental meditators
from Kfar Saba, who sought to be introduced to "Judaism's 'soulful,
meditative side. We started by singing Shlomo's songs and then I related the
Rhyziner Rebbe's meditation on the phrase ki kadosh ani...If
one really imbibes that simple sentiment deeply, feels oneself to be truly
holy, one might behave differently during the course of the day.'"10
Sara
M. Averick compiled the different options for celebrating the seder in 1991,
provided by the Report's correspondents in various locations. Among the
possibilities for taking part in a seder in New York, the seders conducted by
"Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach on the first two nights" were mentioned.
Participants were cautioned to "snack before they attend the Carlebach
seders; the singing rabbi is known to expend much energy and time rendering the
Haggadah before he gets to the food."11 In a survey of Zev
Brenner's radio station in 1994, the reviewer stated that its programs included
"a weekly performance by 'singing rabbi' Shlomo Carlebach."12
Shlomo was referred to in several essays and
editorials written by Stuart Schoffman. In the first issue of the Report,
he conjured up images of possible future stories. One of these, in the realm of
Jewish music, might be about "Bob Dylan and Shlomo Carlebach and Johnny
Cash" doing "an album together."13
His article "Learning the Music" on
soul music was published shortly after the shloshim of Shlomo. He
reviewed in concise the evening that marked Shlomo's shloshim in Heikhal
Shlomo. He also related that the obituary in the Yediot Aharonot daily
revealed that the late Dan Ben-Amotz, "epitome of the anti-Diaspora, pagan
Israeli," used to attend Shlomo's performances. Schoffman acknowledged
that he himself as a "guitar-twiddling teenager,"14 had
idolized Shlomo.
Schoffman recounted the trials and tribulations
of the bone-marrow transplant he underwent in Berkeley, which was the only cure
for myelofysplasia, a disease of the bone marrow with which he was detected,
and the concern on the part of various individuals for his well-being, which
was so very meaningful to him. Rabbis e-mailed him requesting his Hebrew name
in order to pray on his behalf. "A Chabad rabbi from Contra Costa County
dropped by with a hallah, and we spent half an hour singing Shlomo Carlebach
tunes together."15
In yet an additional essay he wrote that in his
quest for authentic Sephardi culture, he went with his 7-year-old son to
observe the Mimounah celebrations at Sacher Park in Jerusalem where, among
other things, entertainer Avi Ofek was "crooning ear-piercing Oriental
favorites (and a Carlebach tune or two)."16 In an article on
the ultra-Orthodox he told of his own personal connections with such persons,
noting that a cousin of his was a "legendary Lubavitcher...Rabbi Nachman
of Bratzlav's fables, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz's indispensable Hebrew translation
of the Talmud, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach's immortal melodies -- all these are so
much a part of my life, of the cultural trove of contemporary Jewry, that to
think of ultra-Orthodoxy as alien or menacing is both strange and sad."17
Micha Odenheimer quoted from Shlomo's teachings
in two Divrei Torah that appeared in "The People and the Book." In a
Dvar Torah on the portion of Nitzavim, he referred to an interpretation
by Shlomo of the notion of worshiping strange gods, which signified "falling apart, the...flip-side
of continuity."
The
late great hasidic teacher and songwriter, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, explained it
as follows: "The closer you are to a person, the more you believe he cares
about everything you do. If you bump into someone whom you are not close to,
whom you haven't seen for six months, and he asks you 'What's new?,' you might
not have anything to tell him. The closer you are, the more there is to tell. A
really close friend even wants to hear what you ate for breakfast. A strange
god is one who you don't believe cares about who you are and what you do --
he's a stranger to you. The more you believe God cares about your every
movement, the less you are worshiping a strange god."18
He pondered the power of spiritual charisma in
"The Charisma of the Good," bringing down in the name of his
"teacher Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach" the idea that "the reason Isaac
had intended to bless Esau, rather than Jacob...was that Esau was a more
exciting, charismatic figure than Jacob and thus better able to reach more people
and change the world with the Abrahamic message."19
Shlomo Carlebach ranked eighty-eight in the Report's
Readers Poll of the one-hundred Greatest Jews of the Millenium, and was defined
as "Hasidic Minstrel."20
N o t e s
1. Yossi Klein Halevi, "The Pied Piper of Judaism," The
Jerusalem Report, November 17, 1994, p. 45.
2. Yossi Klein Halevi, "Artbeat," The Jerusalem Report,
October 5, 1995, p. 59.
3. Miriam Shaviv, "Bringing Back That Loving Feeling," The
Jerusalem Report, October 2, 1997, pp. 50-51.
4. Miriam Shaviv, "Battling over the Legacy," The
Jerusalem Report, October 2,
1997, p. 51.
5. Netty C. Gross, "Sick of Being Single," The
Jerusalem Report, October 30, 1997, pp. 32-35.
6. Lucy Manning, "Pitching Prayer," The Jerusalem
Report, November 9, 1998, p. 28.
7. Calev Ben-David, "Music with a Soul," The Jerusalem
Report, February 23, 1995, pp. 42-43.
8. Tamar Wisemon, "Songs for Peace," The Jerusalem
Report, January 31, 2000, pp.
46-47.
9. Calev Ben-David, "The Psalm Remains the Same," The
Jerusalem Report, August 8, 1996, pp. 46-47.
10. Yossi Klein Halevi and Netty C. Gross, "'Something is
Stirring,'" The Jerusalem Report, July 11, 1996, pp. 16-17.
11. Winston Pickett, "Different Strokes, The Fifth
Question," The Jerusalem Report, March 28, 1991, pp. 32-33,
compiled by Sara M. Averick.
12. J. J. Goldberg, "Radio Schmooze," The Jerusalem
Report, January 27, 1994, p. 34.
13. Stuart Schoffman, "An Interview with Myself," The
Jerusalem Report, September 1, 1990, p. 14.
14. Stuart Schoffman, "Learning the Music," The
Jerusalem Report, January
12, 1995, p. 42.
15. Stuart Schoffman, "Rafaela Revisited," The
Jerusalem Report, September 19, 1996, p. 62.
16. Stuart Schoffman, "Bulldozers and Barbecue," The
Jerusalem Report, May 29, 1997, p. 48.
17. Stuart Schoffman, "The Ankles of King David," The Jerusalem Report, January 4,
1999, p. 50.
18. Micha Odenheimer, "Jewish Intimacy," The Jerusalem
Report, September 13, 1999, p. 45.
19. Micha Odenheimer, "The Charisma of the Good," The
Jerusalem Report, December 6, 1999, p. 41.
20. "Readers Poll! The 100 Greatest Jews of the
Millennium," The Jerusalem Report, January 3, 2000, pp. 52-53,
compiled by Karen Yourish.
A somewhat shortened version of this article appeared in Kol
Chevra, Vol. 7 No. 1, November 2000, pp. 135-138.
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