Shlomo Carlebach
A Hasidic Man, A Pop Man
Shlomo Carlebach (1925-1994) was a singer and composer, a modern troubadour, a pioneer, and a trailblazer in both music and spirituality.
His music and way of life left a significant mark on Israeli society starting in the 1960s and continuing for many decades, up to the present day (2023).
Carlebach composed and sang melodies for verses from the Jewish holy scriptures – the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), prayer books (Siddur), and Mishna. His songs and melodies are based on a relatively simple musical structure, catchy, suitable for mass singing, and were considered innovative and unique in the 1960s. From them emerged modern Hasidic music – which became a leading musical genre in the religious sectors of Israeli society and throughout the Jewish world. From this, further sub-genres branched out, such as faith-based music or "Jewish soul music" – both also drawing inspiration from him.
Carlebach was also a spiritual teacher to hundreds of thousands of students and admirers, imbuing them with a unique legacy. This legacy uses music to bridge hearts and serves as a source of inspiration for population groups and Jewish communities in Israel and worldwide.
Shlomo Carlebach lived in America – where he resided for most of his life, and from there he embarked on his wanderings across the world to spread his musical message.
Israel was one stop on his journeys, the most important one, which he reached in the late 1950s. His original home audience consisted of religious youth in Israeli society. They were the first core of fans who embraced his songs and melodies. This core grew and developed, joined by secular and traditional individuals from families who immigrated from European countries (Ashkenazim), who could be amazed and thrilled by his unique style that matched the Ashkenazi traditional melodies developed in exile.
Carlebach himself embraced both groups.
He sang for everyone – men and women, boys and girls, religious and secular from all denominations and diasporas and all sectors. He loved them all. He hugged and even kissed them all. He touched everyone's body and soul. And when he was captivated by the American "flower children," he established "Houses of Love and Prayer" and adopted some of their characteristics himself: his curls lengthened to his shoulders, colorful beads adorned his neck, and a golden pendant dangled to his chest. His backing band looked like a band of American "hippies," and the lyrical texts accompanying his songs carried messages of love and peace among all peoples and religions.
The direction he took alienated his home audience and the leaders of the religious public.
They avoided going to his concerts but listened to his songs on records and continued to sing them in yeshivas and synagogues, in religious ceremonies, and at Shabbat and holiday meals. Those who remained close to him were "freaks" – flower children who grew up and started families themselves, immigrated to Israel, and established communities that preserved the legacy of the Rabbi who captured their hearts and souls.
Shlomo Carlebach himself married at a relatively old age, forming a family with a woman who bore him two daughters. Together with them, he left his childhood home in New York and moved to Canada.
But
his soul yearned for the Houses of Love and Prayer, for the lost souls, for the admirers who saw him as a guru. For them, he developed a systematic doctrine that combined the utopian ideas of the 1960s counter-culture. He refined these ideas and spiced them with Jewish messages in the spirit of the Hasidism he was raised on. In the last decades of his life, he also wrote books intended for his loyal audience, containing Hasidic stories and his own interpretations of life according to the Torah and Judaism, adapted for the 20th century.
In the last decade of his life, he lost everything he had – family, money, audience.
The man who throughout his life tied his destiny with airplanes and wandering from point to point across the globe ended his life in splendid isolation on a plane seat, moments after taking his place on his way to the next destination in his wanderings.
As happened to other pioneers and trailblazers, none of his admirers were by his side in his final moments.
Even after a doctor declared him dead, there was no one to arrange his burial, save for a few close Hasidim who had to collect donations, dollar by dollar, until they could gather enough money to finance the transport of his body for a proper burial in Jerusalem.
And as happened to other pioneers and trailblazers, the funeral provided his Hasidim an opportunity to revive Carlebach's legacy – a musical and spiritual heritage that was reborn and settled in many sectors of Jewish society in Israel and worldwide, even (and especially) among those who rejected him during his lifetime.
So who was Shlomo Carlebach?
What was his life story? What was unique about him and his music? And how did they influence, and still influence, many generations? And what is Carlebach's legacy, and who makes unfair use of it?
Read about this and more below. The first chapter (by clicking the link):
Carlebach Arrives in Israel
The article is a fascinating biography of the Hasidic singer Shlomo Carlebach – a pioneer and trailblazer who laid the foundation for today's Hasidic music genre. It includes additional chapters:
כל הפרקים האחרים - בקישורים הבאים:
* פרק שני: "האב הבן ורוח הקודש" – קרליבך מגיע לישראל.
* פרק שלישי: גיבור תרבות דתית (השנים 1960-1965).
* פרק רביעי: קרליבך וההִיפָּאלָאך בשנות השישים (1965-1967).
* פרק חמישי: ימי מלחמה, שלום ואהבה (1967-1973).
* פרק שישי: בדרך אל השקיעה (1974-1994).
* פרק שביעי: קרליבך מת בניו יורק וקם לתחייה בישראל (מורשת קרליבך).
* פרק שמיני: שירת קרליבך והרעיון המוזיקלי שיש בה.
* פרק תשיעי: סגנון קרליבך – מוזיקה אשכנזית.
* פרק עשירי: הביצועים המיוחדים של קרליבך.
תחקיר, כתיבה ועריכה:
