Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach: Life, Mission, and Legacy (Hardcover)

Foreword by Neshama Carlebach  

This book examines the life and career of Shlomo Carlebach (1925–1994), considered the most influential composer of Jewish religious music of the 20th century and a progenitor of the modern neo-Hasidic renaissance. Looking through the prism of the historical and cultural developments of his time, including the Holocaust, the Six-Day War, the hippie phenomenon, the New Age movement, and other events that were channeling the course of Jewish life, it attempts to understand the roots of the Carlebach phenomenon and its wide-range appeal. More than anything, this work offers a new perspective in understanding and appreciating the unique form of heartfelt Judaism, joyful optimism, and soulful rejuvenation that Reb Shlomo inspired. 

Hardcover, 503 pages (includes over 100 b/w photos plus an index) 

Series: Modern Jewish Lives - volume 4 

publication: 2013 

Dr. Natan Ophir (Offenbacher) grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia. He first met Reb Shlomo in 1969 when his family moved to 81st Street in Manhattan, two blocks from the Carlebach Shul. Natan graduated Yeshiva University in New York in 1974 and then moved to Israel. He studied for seven years at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav Kook where he received ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. Then he completed his M.A. and Ph.D. in Jewish Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he served as rabbi of the campus from 1982–1998. Currently, he directs JMIJ, the Jewish Meditation Institute Jerusalem, whose goal it is to teach practical Jewish Meditation in the light of research in neuropsychology. He also teaches at the Jerusalem College of Technology and the Ono Academic College. 

“At last! A carefully researched and meticulously annotated biography of Shlomo Carlebach. A must-read for anyone interested in Reb Shlomo and his legacy.” 

–Prof. Jonathan D. Sarna, Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University, and author of American Judaism: A History 

“Dr. Natan Ophir has written a poignant in-depth biography of Shlomo Carlebach in which we get to see him as a unique individual who was both a product of and a producer of his times. Ophir analyzes the man, his music and his message within the context of the social and cultural patterns of the worlds within which he lived, which enables us to understand his continuing, if not growing, influence.” 

–Prof. Chaim I. Waxman, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Rutgers University and Senior Fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute 

“Dr. Ophir worked tirelessly, not only collecting and organizing data on three continents, but gained the trust of hundreds of people who told him their experiences with Reb Shlomo. The result is a documentary history that promises to be the definitive biographical study of Reb Shlomo’s life and career.” 

–Prof. Shaul Magid, Jay and Jeannie Schottenstein Professor of Modern Judaism at Indiana University Bloomington 

“Kudos to Rabbi Dr. Natan Ophir for undertaking the long overdue and Herculean task of offering the first in-depth study of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s multi-talented spiritual expressions that have left a legacy that supersedes even his colorful and luminous career.” 

–Rabbi Sammy Intrator received ordination from Rabbi Carlebach and served as Assistant Rabbi of the Carlebach Synagogue, and after Shlomo’s death, as the Synagogue Rabbi 

“Dr. Natan Ophir (Offenbacher) is to be thanked and congratulated for his exhaustive and detailed work on the life and the creative legacy of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. Avoiding both the adulation of hagiography and the dry description of the ‘facts’ of Shlomo’s life, he is able to make visible to us the impact Shlomo had in Judaism the world over. As much as I knew of Reb Shlomo, I learned much that I did not know about him from Reb Natan Ophir.” 

–Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, author of Davening, Jewish Lights, and A Hidden Light. First Chabad emissary to the college campuses together with Reb Shlomo, Professor Emeritus of Jewish Mysticism and Psychology of Religion at Temple University, holder of World Wisdom Chair at Naropa University, and founder of the Jewish Renewal Movement