My article "Shlomo Carlebach" published in “Oxford Bibliographies in Jewish Studies” is available at

My article "Shlomo Carlebach" published in “Oxford Bibliographies in Jewish Studies”

attached here as a PDF is also available at https://bit.ly/2Phlxry,
https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199840731/obo-9780199840731-0203.xml
LAST MODIFIED: 24 MARCH 2021
I’m attaching a PDF here. It surveys all the literature relating to Reb Shlomo Carlebach with 120 annotated
references. Note in particular section 10 which was the most challenging to write.
1. Introduction
2. Biographical Descriptions
3. Narratives & Interviews
4. Teachings In English
5. Teachings In Hebrew
6. Shlomo’s Stories & Videos
7. Music
8. The House of Love and Prayer & Neo Hasidism
9. The Carlebach Synagogue & The Moshav
10. Controversy
11. Scholarly Analysis
12. Legacy

Introduction
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (b. 1925 – d. 1994) was a spiritual guide, charismatic religious leader, and influential
composer of popular modern Hasidic tunes. Through his musical storytelling, inspirational insights, and personal
contacts, he inspired a new form of heartfelt soulful Judaism and became a progenitor of the 20th century neo-
Hasidic renaissance. Born in Berlin on January 14, 1925, he grew up in Baden near Vienna where his father, Rabbi
Naphtali Carlebach, served as chief rabbi (1931-1938). Shlomo was named after his paternal grandfather, Rabbi Dr.
Shlomo (Salomon) Carlebach (1845-1919), chief rabbi of Lübeck, Germany. Shlomo’s maternal grandfather was
Rabbi Dr. Asher (Arthur) Cohn (1885–1926), Chief Rabbi of Basel, Switzerland. Young Shlomo was destined by
his parents to continue in the family’s Rabbinic calling. With the ominous Nazi rise to power, the Carlebach family
fled, eventually arriving in New York on March 23, 1939. Shlomo studied in the Haredi yeshiva high school
Mesivta Torah Vodaas until April 1943, and then joined a dozen students who helped Rabbi Aharon Kotler establish
the first Haredi full time Torah learning yeshiva in Lakewood, New Jersey. Then, in 1949, Shlomo embarked upon a
career as the outreach emissary for the Chabad Lubavitch Rebbe. From the home base of his father’s Synagogue
Kehillath Jacob in Manhattan, Shlomo set up the first Hasidic outreach program in America. But by 1955 he had
begun charting a unique “outreach” career as a “singing Rabbi”. Highlights of his career include establishing the
House of Love and Prayer (HLP) in Haight Ashbury (1968-1978) and Moshav Meor Modiin in Israel (1976). He
was the featured singer at rallies of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ), and his most famous song, “Am
Yisrael Chai”, was composed for their protest movement. In 1989, he led the first Jewish music tour in Russia,
reaching 50,000 people in three weeks and inspiring Soviet Jewry. He also visited Poland January 1–10, 1989 with
eight concerts in ten days and thus was the first openly religious Jew to perform in Communist Poland after the
1967/8 wave of anti-Semitism. But in his own eyes, his major achievement was as “Rebbe of the Street-Corner.” His
potential constituency could be found in any forlorn corner that he encountered. And since he traveled around the
world sharing his utopian vision of love and peace, he assumed a unique role as a charismatic iconoclast Rebbe.

Biographical Descriptions
The first books with biographical sketches were published three years after Carlebach’s death and include
Brandwein 1997 and Halberstam Mandelbaum 1997. More information became available as recollections were
published by disciples such as Zeller 2006, Ritchie 2010, and Husbands-Hankin 2016. Encyclopedia biographies
were published: Ariel 2005 and Cohen 2007. The collection Schonwald and Goldfarb 2017 includes essays of Reb
Shlomo’s prominent disciples, such as Polen and Yair-Nussbaum, who try to define the unique principles underlying
Carlebach’s life and thought.
Ariel, Yaakov. “Shlomo Carlebach,” In Marc C. Carnes (ed.), American National Biography: Supplement 2, New
York: Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 77–78, [ISBN: 9780195222029]
In this short biographical entry, Ariel defines Carlebach as “Jewish spiritual leader and pioneer of the
movement Return to Tradition” (pg. 77).

Brandwein. Meshulam H. Reb Shlomele: The Life and World of Shlomo Carlebach, Translated by Gabriel A. Sivan,
Efrat, Israel: 1997.
This is a translation from Rabbi Meshulam Havatzelet Brandwein’s Hebrew book. It recounts adulatory
stories about Reb Shlomo’s life, his outreach work and extraordinary acts of generosity and kindness. In his
introduction Brandwein states: “Reb Shlomele won his place in the Jewish Hall of Fame as the creator
‘Hasidic pop’… This book seeks… to express the author’s deep affection for Shlomele Carlebach”.

Cohen, Judah M. “Carlebach, Shlomo” in Berenbaum, Michael, and Fred Skolnik, eds. Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol.
4. 2d ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007, pp. 481-482.
This seminal encyclopedia article in 2007 concisely defined Carlebach’s life and legacy.

Halberstam-Mandelbaum, Yitta. Holy Brother: Inspiring Stories and Enchanted Tales about Rabbi Shlomo
Carlebach (Lanham, Maryland: 1997).
Mandelbaum depicted “wondrous deeds” and acts of kindness that portrayed a “Latter Day Saint,” a
“Hidden Righteous Man.”

Husbands-Hankin, Shonna. “Soul Brothers: A Memoir,” American Jewish History, vol. 100, no. 4, Oct. 2016, pp.
547-553.
Shonna Husbands-Hankin describes how Reb Shlomo and his “soul brother”, Reb Zalman, inspired,
influenced and created as spiritual “trailblazers”.

Polen, Nehemia. “In Search of the Broken Self: Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s Teachings in the Context of His Life and
Work,” in Schonwald, Joseph with Reuven Goldfarb (ed.), What Do We Know? The Carlebach Anthology: Essays
about Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach with Selections from His Teachings and Stories, Jerusalem, 2017, pp. 44-57.
Polen describes Carlebach’s search for his own individual place in the world and his ensuing creation of
neo Hasidic communities – “He tried to make the whole world into a House of Love and Prayer so that he
too could pray and find love”.

Ritchie, Liliane Aura. “Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach: A Friend To Our Generation,” in Masters and Miracles: Divine
Interventions, Jerusalem, Refuah Institute, 2010, pp. 26-53, *[http://jewishoutlook.com/rabbi-shlomo-carlebach-a-
friend-to-our-generation/]*.
A personal account by Liliane Ritchie of how she and her husband, Dr. Joshua Ritchie, connected to
Carlebach in 1966, became close disciples for 28 years, hosting him often in their home in Los Angeles and
helping found Moshav Meor Modiim, Ritchie included personal stories about Carlebach.

Schonwald, Joseph with Reuven Goldfarb (ed.). What Do We Know? The Carlebach Anthology: Essays about
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach with Selections from His Teachings and Stories, Jerusalem: Zimrani Press, 2017.
This 500-page anthology contains 13 annotated teachings of Reb Shlomo and 20 original essays describing
his life and thought. Rabbi Joseph Schonwald was the founding president of the Carlebach Foundation and
Reuven Goldfarb was an original member of the San Francisco House of Love and Prayer.

Yair-Nussbaum, Rute. “The Existential Challenge of Brokenness: Principles in the Thought of Reb Shlomo
Carlebach,” in Schonwald, What Do We Know? The Carlebach Anthology, 2017, pp. 21-43.
Yair-Nussbaum posits that Shlomo’s teachings “constitute a viable theology” and she illustrates several
tenets, e.g. the “breaking of dichotomies” in accepting “opposing truths” such as utopian leftist humanistic
values of peace and love while simultaneously preaching rightist beliefs in the “chosenness” of the Jewish
people. She defines Shlomo’s “mission” in “empowering people to love, honor, and believe in themselves”,
and discover their individual “holiness within”.
Zeller, David. The Soul of the Story: Meetings with Remarkable People, Woodstock, Vermont: Jewish Lights
Publishing, 2006.
Rabbi David Zeller (1946-2007) describes (pp. 11-28) how he met Carlebach in Berkeley in 1966 and
became a close disciple, playing guitar as religious musical inspiration, and eventually receiving semicha
(ordination) from Reb Shlomo.

Narratives & Interviews

Who was Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach? The New Age Encyclopedia 1990 defined him as a “New Age Neo-Hassidic
rabbi and singer.” Alpert 2009 described how “Carlebach morphed not only into a singer but also into a storyteller
and neo-Hasidic Rebbe, offering spiritual teachings to his followers”. In trying to understand his life, many disciples
and reporters interviewed him. The first published interview was Offenbacher 1959. Other notable interviews
include Odenheimer 1990, Brass 1993, Lerner 1993, and Wohlgelernter 1994. In 2000, Levine-Katz summarized 20
articles that had appeared in The Jerusalem Report. But how is the Carlebach “narrative” understood today? Magid
2012 used a metaphor of a self-reflecting mirror to explain the varying narratives. Dalfin 2014 perceived him from
the Chasidic perspective as connected to Chabad. Cohen 2016 summarized how Carlebach “lived mainly through
the stories of others, becoming the center of a variety of worldviews and fitting a range of what narratologists might
recognize as motifs: Carlebach as the descendant of a long line of rabbis, as a child prodigy, as a Holocaust escapee,
as a Hasidic revivalist, as an authentic Hasid, as a troubled Hasid, as a Holy Beggar, as a folksinger, as an
interventionist, as enabling the best in people… In life, Carlebach both modelled and inveigled himself in these
narratives”.

Alpert, Zalman. “Carlebach, Shlomo (1925–1994).” In Jack R. Fischel, Zalman Alpert, Donald Altschiller, Alan
Amanik, Susan M. Ortmann, Encyclopedia of Jewish American Popular Culture. Santa Barbara, California: 2009,
*[http://bit.ly/2tKOlhf]*
A good encyclopedia summary of Carlebach’s life and career by Yeshiva University librarian, Zalman
Alpert.

Brass, Robert (Shmuel). Insights 613

Robert Brass interviewed Reb Shlomo shortly before a concert at the Sephardic Jewish Center
Congregation Magen David, North Miami Beach, Florida on Feb. 14, 1993. The entire two-hour program is
available *online[http://bit.ly/1BEyeOt]*. A video at the National Library in Jerusalem is available
*online[http://bit.ly/1bazJrC]*. The concert itself was posted in nine parts on YouTube.

Cohen, Judah M. “Introduction: Shlomo Carlebach (1925–1994) and the Stories We Tell”, American Jewish
History, vol. 100, no. 4, Oct. 2016, pp. ix-xiii.
Judah M. Cohen, Indiana University Professor of musicology and Jewish Culture, was the guest editor of a
special issue of AJH, the quarterly publication of the American Jewish Historical Society. This was the first
time that an academic journal devoted a special issue to Carlebach.

Dalfin, Chaim. The Real Shlomo, Brooklyn, New York: Jewish Enrichment Press, 2014.
Rabbi Chaim Dalfin is fascinated by the variegated relationship of Reb Shlomo to Chabad and he tries to
explain how a charismatic troubadour became an influential Orthodox Rabbi who paved the way for Jewish
outreach.

Lerner, Michael. “Practical Wisdom from Shlomo Carlebach,” Tikkun Magazine, Sept.–Oct. 1997, vol. 12, no. 5,
53–56, [http://bit.ly/2EK3YaM].
Rabbi Lerner, founder of the neoconservative Jewish magazine Tikkun, interviewed Reb Shlomo a year
before his death and elicited insights into Shlomo’s life history and recorded his perspectives about
tolerance, peace and hope.

Levine-Katz, Yael. "Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach in The Jerusalem Report”, Kol Chevra, Vol. 7 No. 1, November
2000, pp. 135-138, *[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/rabbi-shlomo-carlebach]*
Levine-Katz surveyed 20 articles in The Jerusalem Report where Carlebach was mentioned during the
years 1994-2000.
Magid, Shaul. “Carlebach’s Broken Mirror.” Tablet Magazine, November 1, 2012, TabletMag.com,
*[http://bit.ly/1mUmldy]*.
Carlebach “took two seemingly disparate worlds (Eastern European Hasidism and American counter-
culture) and made them one.” Magid portrays Carlebach as “the rebbe of brokenness and hope” who
embodied the hopelessness of Holocaust survivors with optimistic audacity of the hippies. Carlebach’s
doubleness is embodied in two central figures who influenced his thinking: Nahman of Bratslav, the genius
of brokenness; and Mordecai Joseph Leiner of Ishbitz, teacher of hope.

Melton, John Gordon, Clark, Jerome, Kelly, Aiden A. (eds.). New Age Encyclopedia, Detroit: Gale Research Inc.,
1990, pp. 87-88. See also the entry “New Age Judaism”, pp. 242-245.
This brief entry characterizes Carlebach as “the New Age” Neo-Hasidic rabbi and singer who proclaimed
that “a New Age is dawning” and “Jews will have a special role” and “many religions will prevail with
each building a different portion of the house of God”.

Odenheimer, Micha "On Orthodoxy: An Interview with Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach," Gnosis 16, summer 1990, pp.
46-49.
Rabbi Micha Odenheimer, a close disciple of Carlebach, elicited explanations about Reb Shlomo’s
understanding of how the New Age reflects a spiritual quest.

Offenbacher, Eric. “Interview with a Jewish Minstrel,” Jewish Life, Aug. 1959, 53–57.
This interview, occasioned by the success of Reb Shlomo’s first record, is the first attempt at documenting
essential details of Carlebach’s early life and his embarking on a musical career of “revival meetings”.

Wohlgelernter, Elli. “Simply Shlomo,” The Jerusalem Post Magazine, April 20, 1995. The original recording from
Aug. 22,25, 1994 is *online[http://bit.ly/2QiuZHQ]*.
Wohlgelernter’s article was published as an obituary but the actual interviews took place in August 1994,
shortly before Shlomo’s death, and a recording is available in two audio cassettes in the New York Public
Library, Dorot Jewish Division, Oral History Collection.

Teachings in English
Carlebach did not publish systematic treatises, but his teachings were recorded, and many are available on YouTube.
An early compilation of Shlomo’s teachings was by Ruben 1997. Shlomo’s explanations related to the Passover
seder were collated by Stefansky 2001. Witt 2006 published a series of exchanges between Carlebach and his
disciple, David Herzberg. Shlomo Katz 2012-2013 published teachings of Carlebach collated to correlate with the
weekly Torah readings. Katz 2013-2014 also published teachings about Hanukah and Jerusalem. Flaks 2019
compiled Carlebach teachings by connecting them to different parts of the liturgy. An example of a Carlebach
teaching recently annotated is in a volume on New Hasidism published in Green and Mayse 2019.Reb Shlomo often
taught by using Hasidic texts as springboards for impromptu discourses. One key Hasidic authority that Reb Shlomo
cited was R. Nachman of Breslev. Ritchie 2011 compiled a book of teachings of R. Nachman “as taught by”
Carlebach. On Breslev see Oxford Bibliographies in Jewish Studies article *Bratslav/Breslev Hasidism[obo-
9780199840731-0041]*.

Flaks, Kalman Keith. The Shlomo Siddur Companion: The Teachings of R’ Shlomo Carlebach On the Siddur,
Jerusalem, 2019.
A compilation of teachings of Reb Shlomo by a young scholar organized by thematic connections to
different parts of the liturgy.

Green, Arthur and Ariel Evan Mayse, A New Hasidism: Roots, University of Nebraska Press, 2019, pp. 177-218,
Shlomo Carlebach, “The Torah of the Nine Months”.
The original recordings from the three and a half hour teaching in Tannersville, New York in June 1975 can
be found in the Zalman Schachter Shalomi collection in 3 parts: Part 1, http://bit.ly/34WVetn, part 2:
http://bit.ly/2LueZ3N, part 3: http://bit.ly/36iAxsn. This YouTube collection has dozens of recorded
unpublished Carlebach teachings.

Katz, Shlomo (ed.), The Torah Commentary of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Genesis, Parts I-II, Jerusalem: The
Shlomo Carlebach Legacy Trust and Urim Publications, 2012-2013.
 Part I contains 84 brief expositions relating, often tangentially, to the first 6 portions of Bereishit (Genesis).
Part II published in 2013 contains 69 expositions to the last 6 portions. Exodus was published in March
2020. Katz also edited teachings about specific topics: The Soul of Chanukah: Teachings of Rabbi Shlomo
Carlebach, Monsey, New York: Mosaica, 2013 and The Soul of Jerusalem – Teachings of Rabbi Shlomo
Carlebach, Mosaica Press, 2014.

Odenheimer, Micha. “Shlomo’s Torah,” in Joseph Schonwald and Reuven Goldfarb (ed.). What Do We Know? The
Carlebach Anthology: Essays about Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach with Selections from His Teachings and Stories,
Jerusalem, 2017, pp. 9-20.
Odenheimer states: “Shlomo’s Torah …, his distinctive, unmistakable teachings may yet become
recognized as one of the most profound contributions to Judaism and world spirituality in the second half of
the 20th century”.

Ritchie, Zivi. Rebbe Nachman Says… The Teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov As Taught by Rabbi Shlomo
Carlebach, Israel: Torah Publishers 2011.
Ritchie collated and edited recordings of Reb Shlomo that used ideas of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov as
springboards for developing specific messages to his own listeners.

Ritchie, Zivi. The Book of Love and Prayer: Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’ s Book Collection – All In One, Jerusalem
2019.
Zivi (Ziv) Ritchie produced a series of popular booklets in English and Hebrew with Shlomo’s teachings
organized according to themes: Ecstasy for the Soul, Get High (uplifting sayings), Soulmates, Friends
Listen to This, On Bar Mitzva, Peace, Blessing of Children, Shabbos is Bliss, Am Yisrael Chai – Israel
Lives. In November 2019, 10 books of Ritchie were published in one 560-page book entitled The Book of
Love and Prayer.

Ruben, Michael (ed.), The Teachings of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Northvale, New Jersey: Jason Aaronson, 1997,
*[https://michaelshalomruben.wixsite.com/mysite]*.
Ruben was Shlomo’s manager in Montreal for three decades. Ruben states that he and Shlomo “were like
soul-brothers for 42 unbroken years” and that Shlomo asked him to publish teachings that he had shared
with him. Some of Ruben’s collection was published anonymously in Am Yisrael Chaï, Israel is Living:
Teachings and Stories, 2006.

Stefansky, Chaim (ed.). Carlebach Haggadah: Seder Night With Reb Shlomo, Jerusalem: Urim Publications, 2001.
Teachings and stories of Reb Shlomo relating to the Haggadah and Seder night in his signature
combination of folksy prose with stories of hidden tzadikkim (righteous men), lonely children and
concentration camp prisoners all with inspirational messages. Themes emphasized include joys of Judaism,
love of God, love of Jews, healing humanity, cleansing our souls

Witt, Yahad (ed.). Sparks of David: Rabbi David Hertzberg zt”l Teaches Orot Shlomo – Commentary of Rabbi
Shlomo Carlebach zt”l on Orot HaTeshuva of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook zt”l, Israel: 2006.
This is a most unusual book in the collections of Carlebach teachings. It is based on twenty tape recordings
of R. David Hertzberg’s classes where he commented on Carlebach’s excurses about Teshuva
(penitence/return) that were based on the classical work of Rav Kook, “Lights of Return” The editor Yahad
Witt, was a close student of Hertzberg and the entire Witt family were devoted Carlebach disciples.

Teachings in Hebrew
Shlomo’s stories and teachings were collated in Hebrew by HaCohen 2003, Cohen 2003, and Witt 1996, 2010.
Zivan 2004-2011 produced a series of books containing annotated stories and teachings organized thematically.
Ophir 2017 presented an in-depth analysis in Hebrew of the thought of Carlebach. Below are a few of the books
published in Hebrew.

Cohen, Yeruham Dan. All Together in Holiness, Jerusalem: Kol Mevaser Publications, 2003 [Hebrew].
 A collection of 33 of Carlebach’s stories translated from English in a way that preserves their original
flavor.

Hacohen, Moshe David. For My Brothers and Friends: Teachings and Stories, Jerusalem: 2003, 2nd edition
[Hebrew].
A 288 page book in Hebrew collating teachings and stories of Carlebach.

Katz, Shlomo (ed.), Even Shlomo, The Torah Commentary of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Genesis 2014 and Shemot,
Jerusalem 2020, Dabri Shir [Hebrew],
This is part of a series of Carlebach teachings collated originally in English that was translated into
Hebrew.

Ophir (Offenbacher), Natan. Harav Shlomo Carlebach: Hayav, Mishnato and Hashpaato, Jerusalem: Yediot, 2017
[Hebrew]
A 400 page analysis in Hebrew of the legacy and teachings of Shlomo Carlebach’s life and philosophy.
This is a follow up volume to the biography published in English in 2013 and it explores Carlebach’s ideas
in sociological, theological and historical perspectives.

Shor, Nethanel (ed.). Noah, Woman of Valor: 48 Stories from or about Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach that Relate to
Women, Beit El, 2006 [Hebrew].
48 Carlebach anecdotes and stories relating to women collated in memory of Noa Shor who died in 2002 at
age 48.

Witt, Yahad (ed.), Omek Halev (Depths of the Heart) 1996, Pithu Shaarei Halev (Open the Gates of the Heart –
Talks of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach), 2010, edited by Yehoshua Ron Sarid, Dabri [Hebrew].
Yahad Witt transcribed, translated and published Carlebach talks in 1996 and then in 2010. Vol. 1 is
entitled “Gates of Time” and organizes discourses according to various holidays. Vol. 2 is “Gates of Love”.
These include reprints of stories previously published in booklet form by Witt.

Witt, Yahad (ed.), Binyan Adei Ad (An Eternal Building) [Hebrew]

Editing of Carlebach sermonic teachings at five weddings and about laws related to eating.

Zivan, Shmuel. Lev HaShamayim (Heart of Heaven): High Holidays and Sukkot, Passover, Hanukkah. 2004–2006
[Hebrew].
Rabbi Shmuel Zivan, a devoted follower of Carlebach for 20 years during his lifetime, edited the most
extensive collection of Carlebach teachings available to date in Hebrew. Three volumes on the holidays
entitled Lev HaShamayim include the High Holidays and Sukkot 2004, Passover 2005, Hanukkah 2006.

Zivan, Shmuel. Sippurei Neshama (Soul Stories). 2009, 2011 [Hebrew].

In these two books, Zivan edited, explained and annotated 112 Carlebach stories.

Shlomo’s Stories & Videos

Many of Reb Shlomo’s concerts, stories and events (e.g. weddings he performed) have been preserved on the
Internet. Dozens of lengthy videos have been filmed, e.g. Nethanel Shor, and these are gradually being published on
the Internet. In the National Library of Israel there are about 1,200 items relating to Shlomo Carlebach and include
albums, performances and interviews. The Shlomo Carlebach Foundation’s project of transcribing Shlomo’s
teachings includes about 12,000 audio hours and 500 video hours. Websites such as Ritchie and bloggers such as
Jeff Levine are collecting teachings of Carlebach and his followers. The first published collection of Shlomo's
stories was by Annette and Eugene Labovitz in 1987. This was followed by Susan Yael Mesinai 1994. Serkez 1998
edited selections from the literary publication The Holy Beggars' Gazette. Then, in 2004, Tzlotana Barbara Midlo
edited thirty-six stories in five categories.

Labovitz, Annette and Eugene. Time for My Soul: A Treasury of Jewish Stories for Our Holy Days, Northvale, New
Jersey, London, Jason Aronson Inc., 1987.
 Rabbi Eugene and Annette Labovitz rewrote 62 stories, many of them that they had heard from Reb
Shlomo, and organized them in a thematic collection based on the holidays. Labovitz (1930-2012) was
Rabbi of Congregation Ner Tamid in Miami Beach, Florida, and the Labovitz home was a teaching center
for Reb Shlomo when he visited Florida.

Levine, Jeff, *[https://www.souldoctorstories.com/blog]*.

A continuously updated collection of videos, teachings, music and stories by Carlebach and his followers
maintained by Jeff Levine, a leading member of the Carlebach Foundation.

Mesinai, Susan Yael. Shlomo’s Stories: Selected Tales, Northvale, New Jersey: Jason Aronson, Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, Boulder, New York, Toronto, Oxford, 1994.
Poet, author and researcher, Susan Yael Mesinai, edited thirty of Reb Shlomo’s favorite Hasidic stories.
Her book was published a month before Shlomo’s death and sold 10,000 copies within the first three years.
Mesinai writes: “The amazing simplicity – yet depth – of these tales opens hearts and draws the listener
into a world that defies intellect”.

Midlo-Tzlotana, Barbara. Lamed Vav: A Collection of the Favorite Stories of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Lakewood,
New Jersey: 2004/2005.
Barbara Midlo-Tzlotana edited thirty-six Carlebach stories and organized them into five thematic
categories. She defined the stories’ purposes to overcome obstacles “in our troubled world” and to provide
insights into dealing with life’s challenges.

*National Library of Israel[http://bit.ly/2LX1uKf]*.

The National Library of Israel contains an extensive collection of hundreds of Internet accessible Carlebach
books, articles, videos, songs and teachings

Ritchie*[http://jewishoutlook.com]*.
Website maintained by the family of Prof. Joshua Ritchie, devoted Carlebach disciples. Contains dozens of
Carlebach videos, teachings and explanations.

Serkez, Kalman (ed.). The Holy Beggars' Banquet, Northvale, New Jersey: Jason Aronson, 1998.
Kalman Serkez subtitled his book Traditional Jewish Tales and Teachings of the Late, Great Reb Shlomo
Carlebach and Others, in the Spirit of the 1960s, the 1970s, and the New Age. Serkez selected articles from
The Holy Beggars' Gazette, the HLP journal (1972-1977) edited by Elana Rappaport and Steven Maimes.
Serkez made extensive editorial revisions but did not indicate what was said by Reb Shlomo and what were
the literary compositions from HLP regulars and teachers.

Shor, Nethanel. Videos filmed posted on YouTube

These include more than 70 videos recorded from 1990-1994, many of which have recently been posted on
YouTube. For example, there are lengthy teachings from August 1994 at Yakar, Jerusalem with some of
the more famous anecdotal stories of Reb Shlomo such as *Bashanyu[[http://bit.ly/2TRQHFN]* and
personal life descriptions such as clarifying his separation from Lubavitch *online[http://bit.ly/3az3JOx]*.

Music
Carlebach music influenced Jewish liturgical practices worldwide. See Oxford Bibliographies in Jewish Studies
article *Jews and Music [obo-9780199840731-0063]*. Robert Cohen 1997, 2005, described how Carlebach
“democratized” Jewish music and inspired a revival of Jewish religious folk music. Kligman 2001 called him “the
father of contemporary Jewish music.” Cohen 2005, referred to Carlebach as “the most prolific composer of
liturgical folk melodies in this, perhaps any, century.” Carlebach’s professional singing career was launched with his
records, “Songs of My Soul” (1959) and “Sing My Heart” (1960). His third LP, “At the Village Gate”, produced by
Vanguard Records (1963), marked the first time that a religious Jewish artist produced an album with a major
American record company. With his 4th LP, “In the Palace of the King” and the 5th, “Wake Up World”, both in 1965,
Shlomo established an international following. By 1965, he had been on six concert trips around the world from
Rotterdam to Buenos Aires, Sydney to Rome. In April 1965, Reb Shlomo invented his most famous tune, “Am
Yisrael Chai”, for the SSSJ (Student Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry). It was adopted for Jewish causes as a theme of
resilience and perseverance. The first official discography of Carlebach tunes was produced in 1970 by Zimrani
Records. Entitled The Shlomo Carlebach Songbook it contained sixty-two songs from the first six records of
Shlomo. In 1980, Velvel Pasternak (Tara Publications) published the musical notes for Shlomo’s most popular songs
in The Shlomo Carlebach Songbook. In 1992, these two songbooks were combined into one volume arranged
according to the liturgy, thus creating the first handbook of Carlebach tunes for prayer services. Finally, in 1993,
Tara Publications put out Shlomo Shabbos: The Shlomo Carlebach Shabbos Songbook edited by Ben Zion Solomon.
A discography was published by Benhamou and Shor 2009. Reb Shlomo averaged about 100 concerts a year, and
this doesn’t include Shabbat and holiday programs, informal events, and sing-alongs which often occurred. He left a
legacy of about 750 catchy, uplifting melodies. Carlebach revolutionized prayer and his tunes have become a major
musical modality in many synagogues. He is the only composer to have an entire Shabbat service nusach named
after him. For a musicological explanation of the popularity of Carlebach nusach see Klein 2013.

Benhamou, Lea and Shor, Nethanel. “A Shlomo Discography,” Kol Chevra, vol. 15, 2009, pg. 80.
Benhamou and Shor list 26 albums produced during Shlomo’s lifetime (these include live recordings) and
an additional 25 albums after his death. Shor himself filmed 67 videos of Carlebach’s performances,
teachings and weddings from 1990-1994. These are available from nethanelshor21@gmail.com.

Cohen, Robert L. “Jewish Soul Man,” Moment, Aug. 1997, pp. 58–64, 83.
RlcWordsAndMusic.net, *[http://bit.ly/1zrcSU0]*.
A musicologist’s reflections on how Carlebach's extraordinary gift of melody and eclectic musical
inspiration enabled him to compose a “soundtrack of American Jewish life” that transcended
denominational affiliation

Cohen, Robert L. “New Wings for Our Prayers” liner notes to Open the Gates! New American-Jewish Music for
Prayer, Vol. 1 [CD]), 2005, *[ https://bit.ly/2TvpuY5]*
Cohen explains how Carlebach “opened the gates for a new generation of niggun makers . . . by making
music with a Hasidic flavor accessible to young Americans—and by singing with a guitar, an instrument
theretofore unknown in Jewish religious music.” Carlebach’s melodies “conveyed yearning and joy,
sweetness and exultation all at once”.

Magid, Shaul. “Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and His Interpreters: A Review Essay of Two New Musical Releases.”
Musica Judaica Online Reviews, September 6, 2010.
This is a pioneering article in Jewish ethnomusicology of Carlebach music. Magid offers programmatic
insights to understand a new posthumous Carlebach album “Songs of Peace” based on two live
performances in 1973 by referring to context and historical evolution of Carlebach’s music.

Kelman, Ari Y. and Magid, Shaul. “The Gate to the Village: Shlomo Carlebach and the Creation of American
Jewish “Folk”, American Jewish History, vol. 100, no. 4, Oct. 2016, pp. 511-540.
This article is an insightful analysis into Carlebach’s pivotal role in creating the genre of “Jewish folk
music” and transforming Jewish life by capitalizing “on the ethos of the Folk Revival”.

Klein, Amit. “Singing Their Heart Out: Emotional Excitement in Cantorial Recitatives and Carlebach Nusach,” in
Sarah Ross, Gabriel Levy and Soham Al-Suadi, eds. Judaism and Emotion: Texts, Performance, Experience, New
York: Peter Lang, 2013, pp. 67-96, *[https://biu.academia.edu/amitklein]*.
Amit Klein, Bar Ilan University lecturer of music, analyzed musicological factors to explain the “huge
popularity of Carlebach services”. He distinguished the unique aspects of Carlebach nusach as compared to
Cantorial Recitative by illustrating how Carlebach music generates a mood of happiness and joy and
utilizes an intensification process based on music, speed and volume.

Kligman, Mark. “Contemporary Jewish Music in America.” In David Singer and Lawrence Grossman (eds.),
American Jewish Year Book. New York: 2001, vol. 101, pp. 88–140,
*[http://www.ajcarchive.org/AJC_DATA/Files/2001_3_SpecialArticles.pdf]*.
Kligman: “Carlebach’s most striking innovation was the blending of Hassidic song with folk music.”
Carlebach’s “songs are easy to sing and to remember – the melody is instantly familiar”.
Pasternak, Velvel, The Shlomo Carlebach Songbook I–II, Cedarhurst, New York: I – 1970, II - 1980.
Ethnomusicologist, Velvel Pasternak (1933-2019) published the musical notes for Shlomo’s most popular
songs. In 1992 he created the first handbook of Carlebach tunes for prayer services. And in 1993, published
Shlomo Shabbos: The Shlomo Carlebach Shabbos Songbook (edited by Ben Zion Solomon). For
Pasternak’s life story see Velvel Pasternak, Behind the Music: Stories, Anecdotes, Articles, and Reflections,
Tara Publications, New York, 2017.

Solomon, Ben Zion, Shlomo Shabbos - The Shlomo Carlebach Shabbos Songbook, Meor Modi’im and New York,
1993.
This Shabbos songbook produced by Ben Zion Solomon, and published by Kehilat Jacob Publications (i.e.,
the Carlebach Shul on 79th St.) and Meor Modi’im, is a spiral-bound book of 94 pages and 46 songs.
Solomon provides background information of how each song was composed.

Weidenfeld, Sarah. “Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s Musical Tradition in Its Cultural Context: 1950–2005.” PhD diss.,
Bar-Ilan University, 2008
In 2003, Sarah Lerer Weidenfeld wrote her MA thesis in Hebrew at Bar Ilan University on “The Musical
Tradition of R. Shlomo Carlebach: A Definitive Analysis of His Works and Musical Style,” and then
expanded this into her Ph.D. dissertation completed in 2008.

The House of Love and Prayer and Neo Hasidism

The salient part of Reb Shlomo’s neo-Hasidic outreach was the creation of House of Love and Prayer (HLP) in San
Francisco in 1968 during the height of the Hippie counterculture revolution. The first journalist description of the
HLP was by Skir 1970. In 1973, a “field study” was done by Matthew Maibaum on the HLP to explain the appeal
of Hasidism for American Jewish youth. The first scholar to provide a sociological analysis of the HLP and relate it
to Carlebach’s Neo-Hasidic innovations was Prof. Yaakov Ariel from the University of North Carolina - Ariel 2003,
2006. The first book length memoir from the HLP was published by Coopersmith 2011. An analytical summation of
the development and significance of the HLP can be found in three chapters by Ophir 2013. A recent summary of
the history of the HLP with original documentation and videos can be seen in Kroll-Zeldin 2017.

Ariel, Yaakov. “Hasidism in the Age of Aquarius: The House of Love and Prayer in San Francisco, 1967–1977,”
Religion and American Culture, Summer 2003, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 139–165.
Ariel concludes: “The HLP should be seen as part of the avant-garde of a Jewish counter reformation to
reverse the tide and combat the revolutionary changes… that turned Jews away from traditional Judaism…
and it offered a new lease on life to Orthodoxy, which many considered to be dying in the wake of the
Holocaust.”

Ariel ‌, Yaakov. "Can Adam and Eve Reconcile?: Gender and Sexuality in a New Jewish Religious Movement,"
Nova Religio, May 2006, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 53–78.
This article defines how HLP “neo-Hasids” created a fusion between a countercultural lifestyle with
religious observance thus enabling thousands to “return to tradition”. This was emphasized in the
channeling of Hippie “free love” towards marriage celebrations at the HLP.

Coopersmith, Aryae. Holy Beggars: A Journey from Haight Street to Jerusalem, El Granada, California: One World
Lights, 2011.
In 1968, at age 22, Aryae Coopersmith helped Reb Shlomo open the first House of Love and Prayer (HLP)
in Haight Ashbury. Holy Beggars is Coopersmith’s memoir about the underlying challenges and emotional
turmoil in the Carlebachian adventure interspersed with Coopersmith’s reflections about his own personal
spiritual journey.

Kroll-Zeldin, Oren. “The House of Love and Prayer: A Radical Jewish Experiment in San Francisco”,
*[http://bit.ly/2n5VuST]*, updated 16/12/2017.
Oren Kroll-Zeiden describes how the HLP fused Orthodox religious tradition with a Countercultural Hippie
movement in a remarkable way that was perhaps possible only in the late 1960s Haight Ashbury district of
San Francisco.
Ophir, Natan. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach: Life, Mission, and Legacy. Jerusalem: Urim, 2013
*[http://www.urimpublications.com/rabbi-shlomo-carlebach-life-mission-and-legacy.html]*
Three chapters in this book discuss the House of Love and Prayer and its ramifications: ch. 4: Holy Hippies
Discovered, ch. 5: HLP, ch. 6: Getting High at the HLP.

Maibaum, Matthew. “Some appeals of Hasidism to American Jewish Youth: A Field Study,” 1973.
Maibaum’s initial field study of the HLP in 1973 was partially incorporated in his PhD thesis published in
1980 about the Jewish college age youth movements in America from 1965-1972. See Menachem
(Matthew) Maibaum, The New Student and Youth Movements, 1965–1972: A Perspective View on Some
Social and Political Developments in American Jews as a Religio-National Group, Ph.D. Thesis,
Claremont Graduate School, 1980, *[http://bit.ly/2F94Ciu]*.

Skir, Leo. “Shlomo Carlebach and the House of Love and Prayer,” Midstream: A Quarterly Jewish Review, Feb.
1970.
In August 1969, Leo Skir, a freelance writer, spent eighteen days collecting impressions of the HLP in
order to write a story for the magazine Midstream. Skir then traveled with Reb Shlomo from New York in
Dec 1969 to visit a Hanukkah program at the HLP.

The Carlebach Synagogue & The Moshav

A major focal point of Carlebach’s activities was in his father’s synagogue, Kehilath Jacob on W. 79st. in
Manhattan. This came to be known as The Carlebach Shul. The Kehilath Jacobs New Bulletins were the first source
for ongoing information. In 1985, a magazine was launched called “Connections” and fifteen issues were published.
After Reb Shlomo’s death, there were remembrance journals published by the Carlebach Shul in Nov. 1995 and
Nov. 1996. In the mid-1970s, Reb Shlomo’s chevra began looking for a rural settlement where they could create
their own communal life and create a New Age type yeshiva where all could “turn on to the beauty of Yiddishkeit.”
For the early history of Moshav Meor Modi’im see Douer 1992. Korenbrot 1985 offers a pictorial description of
Moshav Meor Modi’im. A 25th anniversary journal was published in 2001.

Douer, Yair. Our Sickle Is Our Sword: Nahal Settlements until 1967, vol. 1, Tel Aviv: 1992 [Hebrew], pp. 135–141.
The entire book can be found at Bterezin.Brinkster.net, *[http://bit.ly/16QskZO]*.
The entry about Moshav Meor Modi’im in this book describes the early history of the Moshav before
Carlebach followers settled there.

Intrator, Rabbi Sammy (Shmuel Chaim) and Rivka Haut, Connections, 1985-1989.
Connections was a newsletter/magazine published by Hakrev Ushma, an organization set up by Reb
Shlomo in his Manhattan Synagogue. Beginning in 1985 some fifteen issues were published and they
helped create a sense of community for followers of Reb Shlomo scattered the world over.

Korenbrot, Israel. Return to Modi’im. Jerusalem: 1985.

In the early 1980s, a professional photographer, Israel Korenbrot, was invited to the Moshav. His 67 photos
were published in this book and provide a glimpse into life on the Moshav 1980–1982. Yael (Susan)
Mesinai wrote the introduction and portrayed the vision and challenges of the settlers.

Kavod: Following In the Footsteps of Reb Shlomo, New York, Dec. 1996.
Published in Nov.-Dec. 1996 for the 2nd yahrtzeit, this booklet contains tributes and photos.

L’koved Reb Shlomo Remembrance Journal, New York, Nov. 1995

The journal was published for the first yahrzeit of Reb Shlomo and contained memorial articles, tributes
and photos,

The Moshav Me’or Modi’im, 25th Anniversary Journal, Me’or Modi’im, 2001
A 125 page collection of stories, articles and photos by people who lived on the Moshav in its first 25
years.
Controversy
The major controversy that has doggedly accompanied Carlebach’s life and legacy has its roots in the 1967
“Summer of Love” in Haight-Ashbury. It was then that Reb Shlomo discovered the power of hugs. An embrace
from a bearded Orthodox Rabbi was startling but welcomed by hippies estranged from parents, authority figures,
and conventional religion. Rabbi Carlebach began proclaiming that love and empathy were the antidotes to
alienation and anger. Hugging became the trademark of his maverick outreach career. His stated mission was “to
hug and love every human being”. He likely hugged half a million people. But rumors began to circulate that there
was more than harmless hugging. Although many men and women welcomed his affection, others found his
behavior untenable, an unacceptable crossing of boundaries for an Orthodox rabbi. In some religious circles he was
ostracized. Four years after his death, the feminist magazine Lilith published allegations of sexual impropriety
including sexually charged phone calls, propositions, and inappropriate sexual advances even towards minors
(Blustain 1998). Lilith’s claim that the charismatic Rabbi had abused women and misused his power generated an
intense debate. Carlebach’s followers countered that it was patently unfair to slander someone who could not
respond (Lilith 1998). This debate resurfaced in social media with sharp attacks, some accusing Carlebach of being a
“serial sex predator”. Imhoff 2016 addressed these allegations and explained that all too often women who report
abuse are disbelieved or even shamed, and negative stories about Reb Shlomo are whitewashed or dismissed. In
December 2017 a new wave of debate instigated by the #MeToo Movement led to heated journalistic discussions
with calls to ban Carlebach’s music, e.g. in The Forward ( Goldtzvik 2017), The Times of Israel (Sales 2018), and
Jewish Weekly (Wilensky 2017). Some wrote passionate rebuttals and others who had known Carlebach suggested a
nuanced approach (e.g. Goshen 2017, Ophir 2020). In 2019, writers were still citing the Lilith allegations as
authoritative evidence for banning Carlebach’s teachings (e.g. Weinreich 2019). Contrastingly, Rabbis of the
Carlebachian community, in an organization called Ohel Shlomo, proposed a path that “honors Shlomo’s unique
contribution to the Jewish world, at the same time as it mourns his harmful actions. A path that offers healing to the
people he hurt as well as compassion for his committed followers” (Hevria 2019).

Blustain, Sarah. “A Paradoxical Legacy: Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s Shadow Side,” Lilith Magazine, vol. 23, no. 1,
Spring 1998, pp. 10-17, *[https://www.lilith.org/articles/rabbi-shlomo-carlebachs-shadow-side]*..
Sarah Blustain, editor of the feminist magazine Lilith, cited several women who described sexual abuse
such as fondling, groping, unwanted advances, late night phone calls and misuse of charisma. Blustain’s
article has been widely cited for the past 25 years as the chief source for allegations against Carlebach
including sexual abuse of minors.

Goldtzvik, Sharon Rose. “It’s Time To Stop Singing Shlomo Carlebach’s Songs” The Forward, December 7, 2017,
*[https://bit.ly/2YfUVJu]*.
Goldtzvik is a leader of the movement to ban Carlebachian music. After she wrote an opinion post in The
Forward, she reported: “Since I wrote my op-ed, I've had lots of clergy reach out to me to say they would
stop using Carlebach”.

Goshen-Gottstein, Alon. “A Flawed Religious Genius: Coming to Terms with Shlomo Carlebach,” The Times of
Israel, Dec. 26, 2017 *[http://bit.ly/2YH1HpY]*.
Goshen-Gottstein used a newly invented category termed “flawed religious genius” to appreciate
Carlebach’s spiritual contribution while yet taking into account possible improper sexual behavior.

Hevria, “Carlebach’s Legacy: Offering a Path of Healing,” Nov. 13, 2019,

*[https://hevria.com/anonymous/carlebachs-legacy-offering-a-path-of-healing]*.
<Chaya Lester wrote this>
This article in the avant-garde journal Hevria.com by a prominent member of the American Carlebachian
community asks that Carlebach hevra “believe more deeply the stories” and that Carlebach hevra’s
leadership “stand with those who are hurting”.

Imhoff, Sarah. “Carlebach and the Unheard Stories,” American Jewish History, vol. 100, no. 4, Oct. 2016, pp. 555-
560, *[https://www.academia.edu/29160814/carlebach_and_the_unheard_stories].
Sarah Imhoff, professor of religious studies at Indiana University, described how Carlebach’s defiance of
boundaries extended to touching and speaking in inappropriate and unwanted sexual ways. She emphasized
the importance of believing the testimonies of women who have chronicled Carlebach’s sexual abuse.
Lilith Readers Respond, “Sex, Power and Our Rabbis,” Lilith Magazine, Summer 1998, pp. 14–16.
*[https://www.lilith.org/articles/sex-power-and-our-rabbis]*.
Lilith received dozens of emotional responses pro and con to Blustain’s spring 1998 expose. Twelve were
selected and printed. They demonstrated the vociferous nature of the controversy where the issue at stake
was how to remember Shlomo.

Ophir, Natan. “Why Did Lilith Portray A “Shadowy Side” of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach?”
2020 *[https://bit.ly/3dVlWb1]*.
Ophir critiqued the black/white bifurcated debate which set up a categorical dichotomy of Sinister Sex
Predator vs. Saintly Caring Rabbi. He suggested distinguishing between different allegations by noting the
“lumping effect” where sexual assault/rape is lumped together with unwanted touching/inappropriate
expressions and noted that Carlebach did not present his persona as a paragon of flawless virtue but
portrayed an awareness of his own personal struggles.

Sales, Ben. “In the #MeToo era, these synagogues are banning Shlomo Carlebach songs,” Times of Israel, January
30-31, 2018, *[https://bit.ly/2Ncj79i]*.
Journalist Ben Sales provided an inclusive summary of the #MeToo inspired debate in 2018 about banning
Carlebach’s music in American synagogues. His article was published at JTA.org and republished in other
outlets such as Times of Israel and The Forward.

Weinreich, Doniel. “Why We Must Acknowledge Carlebach’s Sexual Abuses”, Yeshiva University Commentator,
Nov. 20, 2019, *[https://yucommentator.org/2019/11/why-we-must-acknowledge-carlebachs-sexual-abuses]*.
Weinreich relied upon the evidence of Lilith to convict Carlebach. He argued that it is necessary to
recognize Carlebach as a sex predator in order to prevent future sexual abuse, to “identify the future
Lanners and Finkelsteins”.

Wilensky, David. “Purging the music of Shlomo Carlebach in the age of #MeToo, The Jewish News of Northern
California, Dec. 12, 2017, *[https://bit.ly/3i4SRMf]*.
David Wilensky, co-moderator of a Facebook group entitled “Beyond Carlebach”, cited the Lilith
allegations to prove a “legacy of sexual abuse” and concluded that Carlebach’s music should be banned.
Wilensky acknowledges that this is not easy because “many of his tunes are used for multiple prayers. Even
the most knowledgeable service leaders I know are occasionally caught off-guard when they learn that
Carlebach wrote a particular tune”.

Scholarly Analysis
Research in the academic world has only begun developing recently. Yaakov Ariel 2005, 2011 described Carlebach
in context with the neo-Hasidic revival. A BA thesis was written at Yale (Chaidell 2011) and an MA thesis at the
Jewish Theological Seminary (Pearlstein 2015). The first academic biography was published by Dr. Natan Ophir in
2013. Prof. Judah Cohen 2015 offered methodological insights and analyzed the musicological aspects of
Carlebach’s legacy. Shaul Magid 2016, 2019, characterized and illuminated the dialectical, often contradictory,
aspects of Carlebach’s life and thought. Alon Goshen-Gottstein asked if Carlebach could be categorized as a
“religious genius”. Pinchas Giller 2020 examined Carlebach’s interactions with New Age spirituality.

Ariel, Yaakov. “Crisis and Renewal: From Crushed Hasidism to Neo-Hasidic Revival and Outreach,” in Armin
Lange, K.F. Diethard Romheld and Matthias Weigold (eds.) Judaism and Crisis: Crisis as a Catalyst in Jewish
Cultural History (Göttingen: 2011), 317–335.
Ariel describes how Neo-Hasidism combined with a Return to Tradition was led by Carlebach and his
colleague Zalman Schachter: “Neo-Hasidism reinvented Judaism as a mixture of pre-World War II
traditionalist Eastern European Hasidic Judaism and American counter-cultural values and styles. In its
pioneering way, neo-Hasidism was a forerunner of a postmodernist Judaism”.

Chaidell, Benjamin. “A Countercultural Tradition: Shlomo Carlebach and His Holy Hippielach,” Yale University,
Senior Essay in the Department of Religious Studies, April, 2011.
 Chaidell demonstrates how Carlebach in the 1960s-1970s transformed a Hasidic “old world” European
Judaism by presenting a “virtuous reality” in the form of a personal relatable model that would be aligned
with values of the youth counterculture.

Cohen, Judah M. Book review of Natan Ophir (Offenbacher), Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach: Life, Mission, and Legacy,
The American Jewish Archives Journal, vol. 67, no 1 (2015), pp. 73-77, *[http://bit.ly/3atFxgo]*.
Cohen offers valuable methodological insights into the critical issues involved for academic research about
Carlebach.

Giller, Pinchas. “Shlomo Carlebach on the West Coast”, in Kabbalah in America: Ancient Lore in the New World
(ed. Brian Ogren), Leiden/Boston, 2020, ch. 12, pp. 199-210.
Giller examines Carlebach’s interactions with New Age spirituality in Northern California in the late 60s
with his appearances at the Berkeley Folk Festivals, the Holy Man Jam gatherings, and Meeting of the
Ways.

Goshen-Gottstein, Alon. “Was Shlomo A Religious Genius?”, in Joseph Schonwald and Reuven Goldfarb (ed.). The
Carlebach Anthology: Essays about Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach with Selections from His Teachings and Stories,
Jerusalem, 2017, pp. 58-69.
Goshen-Gottstein utilized a category of reference defined as “religious genius” to describe individuals of a
spiritual stature (defined in detail in the model proposed by Goshen) who have had an enduring
transformative impact on their tradition. Goshen explores the suitability of this category to a description of
Carlebach and his long-term impact, shaping religion with renewed spiritual intensity.

Magid, Shaul. “Shlomo Carlebach and Meir Kahane: The Difference and Symmetry Between Romantic and
Materialist Politics,” American Jewish History, vol. 100, no. 4, Oct. 2016, pp. 461-484,
*[https://muse.jhu.edu/article/632113/pdf]*.
Magid analyzes Carlebach’s utopian belief in the ability of love to overcome human conflict and illustrates
its realistic political implications by comparing Carlebach’s “romanticism to the philosophy of Meir
Kahane.

Magid, Shaul. “Shlomo Carlebach: A Transnational Jew In Search of Himself,” in Arthur Green and Ariel Evan
Mayse, A New Hasidism: Branches, University of Nebraska Press, 2019, ch. 13, pp. 339-356.
This is the latest of a series of articles by Prof. Shaul Magid that relate to Carlebach. After describing
intricacies of Carlebach’s “transformative effect on hundreds of thousands of Jews and non-Jews
worldwide”, Magid explains his own complex view of Carlebach as “an anti-tsaddik” with “a blessed state
of contradiction”, “piety and sadness and joy”.

Ophir (Offenbacher), Natan. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach: Life, Mission, and Legacy. Jerusalem: Urim, 2013,
*[http://www.urimpublications.com/rabbi-shlomo-carlebach-life-mission-and-legacy.html]*.
The first book-length scholarly exploration of Shlomo Carlebach’s life and philosophy. Based on over 250
interviews and an extensive analysis of his writings, recordings, and videos.

Pearlstein, Eden. “Holy Broken: Spatial, Temporal and Spiritual Functions of the Western Wall in the Neo-Hasidic
Teachings of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach,” master’s thesis, the Jewish Theological Seminary, 2015.
An exploration into the creative ways that Rabbi Carlebach utilized the trope of the "Kotel" (Western Wall)
in terms of sacred space, time, and soul to focus awareness on the role of emotions and imagination in
religious life.

Legacy
The question of a “Carlebachian legacy” was posed on JVO (Jewish Values Online) where Rabbis representing all
Jewish denominations respond. Conservative Rabbi Wayne Allen wrote: “Reb Shlomo transformed many lives
through his music, his teaching, and his presence. His melodies have entered the mainstream of Jewish prayer and
ritual…there is hardly a person who encountered Reb Shlomo who has not gone away without a memorable
interpretation”. Reform Rabbi Louis Rieser answered: “Perhaps the legacy of Reb Shlomo is that he inspired and
empowered individual Jews to rediscover and reshape their own relationship to Judaism. I am hard-pressed to think
of another teacher whose followers are to be found in every corner of the Jewish world. It is quite an achievement”.
After Carlebach’s death, Emuna Witt began publishing an annual journal entitled Kol Chevra which includes dozens
of feature articles, personal stories with Reb Shlomo and edited excerpts of his teachings. The 26th volume was
published in Oct. 2020. An insightful appraisal of Carlebach’s legacy was offered in Magid 2009. A special issue of
the American Jewish Historical Society Quarterly in 2016 explored new facets of Carlebach’s career and legacy
such as Cohen 2016, Ophir 2016. Various articles and blogs sum up personal tributes as for example Klein 2019,
Carlebach Citron 2019. More recently, Mayse 2020 summarized the life and legacy of Reb Shlomo in the context of
the development of Neo Hasidism and its repercussions.

Carlebach Citron, Sterna. “Reb Shlomo: Singer, Composer, Teacher – And Uncle: A Personal Tribute by His
Niece on His 25th Yahrzeit,” Nov. 14, 2019, *[http://bit.ly/2rTK36l]*.
Sterna Carlebach Citron describes Carlebach’s mission “to awaken the spark in Jews who were spiritually
asleep” He “nudged that latent spark… they were not even aware of, and pushed and prodded it until it
caught fire”.

Cohen, Judah M. “A Holy Brother’s Liberal Legacy: Shlomo Carlebach, Reform Judaism, and Hasidic Pluralism”,
American Jewish History, vol. 100, no. 4, Oct. 2016, pp. 485-509.
Cohen documents how Carlebach’s neo Hasidic music interacted with liberal Judaism.

*Jewish Values Online[http://www.jewishvaluesonline.org/1275#_ftn17]*.

Multi Jewish perspectives on morals and ethics, an online site. For all three JVO respondents about
Carlebach’s legacy see Jewish Values Online, Dec. 2014,

Klein, Yaakov. “Reb Shlomo Carlebach’s Gift to Our Generation”, Nov. 14, 2019,
*[https://matzav.com/reb-shlomo-carlebachs-gift-to-our-generation/]*.
In this 2019 article, Klein attempts to explain the continued popularity of Reb Shlomo and his “success in
planting a wondrous garden of optimism, sacrifice, love, connection, holy desire, striving, joy, and refusal
to despair”.

Magid, Shaul. “On Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach”, in “Jewish Spirituality in America – A Symposium.” Havruta: A
Journal of Jewish Conversation, vol. 2. no. 1, Spring 2009, 18–21.
Magid: Shlomo changed the way Jews relate to their tradition and the world…. He was a defender of
tradition who was also iconoclastic, someone who took two seemingly disparate worlds (Eastern European
Hasidism and the American counter-culture) and made them one, so that today we unconsciously view one
through the lens of the other.

Magid, Shaul, “Epilogue.: Shlomo Carlebach: An Itinerant Preacher for a Post-Judaism Age.” American Post-
Judaism: Identity and Renewal in a Postethnic Society, 2nd ed., Indiana University Press, 2013, pp. 233–
239. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16gzc7t.14.

Mayse, Ariel Evan. “The Development of Neo-Hasidism: Echoes and Repercussions.” in Contemporary Uses and
Forms of Hasidut (ed. Shlomo Zuckier), New York and Jerusalem: Yeshiva University Press and KTAV-Urim,
2020, pp. 181–260.
As part of his exploration of the teachings of neo-Hasidic leaders who renewed American Judaism after the
Holocaust, Mayse analyzes the impact of Carlebach upon Orthodox Jewish thought and life.

Ophir (Offenbacher), Natan. “Evaluating Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s Place in Jewish History,”
American Jewish History, vol. 100, no. 4, October 2016, pp. 541-546.
*[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308975344_Evaluating_Rabbi_Shlomo_Carlebach's_Place_in_Jewish_
History]*
Ophir noted that merely a decade after Reb Shlomo's death, there were already 114 Carlebach
congregations (64 in North America, 48 in Israel, and 5 in Europe). Distinguishing features included joy
and friendliness, informality and hospitality. Similarly, individuals identify themselves as Carlebachian
such as on dating websites as this category defines a liberal form of religious Orthodoxy with a Hasidic
bent of heightened spirituality coupled with an emotional heartfelt Judaism.
Witt, Emuna (ed.), Kol Chevra, *[http://kolchevra.com]*.
After Carlebach’s death in 1994, Emuna Witt began editing a Yahrzeit journal averaging about 50 pages
each. This became an annual book size publication of between 150-230 pages containing a variety of
articles from tributes to Reb Shlomo, personal messages, poetry, historical anecdotes and Carlebach
teachings. The most recent volume, #26, appeared in Oct. 2020 *[https://www.amazon.com/Kol-Chevra-
Yahrzeit-Shlomo-Carlebach/dp/B08LNBW5R7].