Shlomo Karlebach ( January 14, 1925 , Berlin - October 20, 1994 , Canada ) is a Jewish religious singer, composer, rabbi , one of the most popular authors and performers of Hasidic songs in the world, often called the "singing rabbi" during his lifetime.
Content
- 1 childhood
- 2 Singing Rabbi
- 3 In the USSR
- 4 References
Childhood
Born in Berlin , in a family belonging to one of the oldest rabbinical dynasties in Germany (18 generations of this family are documented). Father, Naftali Carlebach, was an authoritative rabbi. Shlomo was named after his grandfather, Solomon Karlebach, a famous religious figure in Germany, who was the chief rabbi of Lübeck . Thomas Mann , also living in Lübeck, wrote of him: “I have the impression that the long-bearded, with a hat, Dr. Karlebach far exceeded his colleagues of a different faith in knowledge and religious penetration.”
Shlomo's mother, Paula Cohn, also came from a family of rabbis. Her father, Asher Michael Kogan, was the chief rabbi of Basel ( Switzerland ), the founder of the international Jewish organization Agudat Israel .
At the age of four, Shlomo studied the Torah with Rashi's comments, and at the age of five he began to study the Talmud .
In 1933, the family was forced to leave Germany and settled in Austria , near Vienna . In 1938 , the whole family went to the city of Telsiai , where the head of the famous Ponevezh Yeshiva arranged a bar mitzvah for his son. They decided to leave Shlomo in the yeshiva, and studying in it became a turning point in his life.
In 1939, the family moved to America, Karlebahi settled in Manhattan , where his father founded the Keilat Yaakov community, which later became known as Karlebah Shul .
Singing Rabbi
In 1949 , Shlomo Karlebah and his friend Zalman Shekhter-Shlomi were invited to meet with the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Joseph-Yitzchak Schneerson. “The time has come for both of you to start visiting universities,” the Rebbe said without much preamble. Friends were instructed to organize a Hanukkah celebration for the Jews of Brandeis University. The task was performed in the best way. Since the beginning of the 50s, initially as an emissary to the Rebbe Menachem Mendl Schneerson , Shlomo Karlebah began trips around the world with concerts, talks, organizing holidays, weddings, bar mitzvahs, etc.
In the USSR
For the first time, Shlomo Karlebah arrived in Russia in 1970 , organizing the celebration of the Simchat Torah in the Moscow Choral Synagogue on ul. Arkhipova (known among dissidents as a "hill"). In 1988-1990, during the perestroika era, he performed with 21 concerts on a tour of the cities of the USSR and Poland. His concert performances invariably aroused a wave of joy and spiritual uplift among the audience.