Shlomo Carlebach

Shlomo Carlebach (1925–1994) was an American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, composer, and singer whose Hebrew songs and informal outreach shaped Jewish religious life.

Carlebach minyan: A Jewish prayer service shaped by the melodies and participatory style associated with Shlomo Carlebach. These services carry his tunes and communal approach into regular synagogue worship.
Moshe Feinstein: An influential Orthodox rabbi and decisor of Jewish law who led New York’s Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem. Carlebach studied at the yeshiva led by Feinstein.
Hasidic Judaism: A movement within Judaism founded in eighteenth-century Eastern Europe, emphasizing devotion, joy, and the spiritual leadership of the rebbe. Hasidic spirituality supplied the devotional language and musical sensibility behind much of his work.
Jewish prayer: The individual and communal forms of worship prescribed or shaped by Jewish tradition. His melodies entered prayer services across communities and denominations.
Jewish Renewal: A Jewish spiritual movement that combines traditional practices with contemporary forms of worship and community. Carlebach’s music and ecstatic spirituality influenced parts of this movement.
Martin Buber: An Austrian-Israeli philosopher best known for his writings on dialogue, relation, and Hasidism. Buber’s work on Hasidic spirituality informed Carlebach’s religious imagination.
Lubavitch Hasidism: A branch of Hasidic Judaism centered on the Chabad-Lubavitch dynasty and its teachings. Carlebach was raised in a Lubavitch family and trained in its religious tradition.
Jewish liturgy: The established texts and structures used in Jewish communal worship. Carlebach’s compositions became attached to liturgical passages in many congregations.
Havdalah: The Jewish ceremony marking the end of Shabbat and the beginning of the new week. His melodies became widely sung in communal Havdalah ceremonies.
Salamone Rossi: A Jewish Italian composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque who wrote Hebrew liturgical music. Rossi represents an earlier effort to bring Jewish texts into composed musical forms.

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