Yitta Halberstam Mandelbaum - Holy Brother: Inspiring Stories and Enchanted Tales about Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach

YITTA HALBERSTAM MANDELBAUM

Permission to reprint portions of Shlomo Carlebachs teachings, which appear at the beginning of each chapter, was kindly granted by: The Holy Beggars Gazette (San Francisco).

The author also gratefully acknowledges permission to print excerpts from Aryae Coopersmiths work (forthcoming; untitled).

A JASON ARONSON BOOK

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.

Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
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Copyright 1997 by Yitta Halberstam Mandelbaum
First Rowman & Littlefield edition 2004

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mandelbaum, Yitta Halberstam.

Holy brother : inspiring stories and enchanted tales about Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach / Yitta Halberstam Mandelbaum.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN: 978-0-7657-5959-7

1. Carlebach, ShlomoAnecdotes. 2. RabbisUnited StatesAnecdotes. 3. HasidismUnited StatesAnecdotes. 4. Pastoral counseling (Judaism)Anecdotes. I. Title.

BM755.C2745M36 1997
296.8332092dc20

Printed in the United States of America

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Dedicated to the blessed memory of my father,
Yiddish and Hebrew writer
Rabbi Laizer Halberstam
for whom Truth, above all, was paramount.

Rabbi Shlomo of Karlin said: If you want to raise a man from mud and filth, do not think it is enough to keep standing on top and reaching down to him a helping hand. You must go all the way down yourself, down into mud and filth. Then take hold of him with strong hands, and pull him and yourself out into the light.

A father once explained sadly to the holy Baal Shem Tov that his son had abandoned God. What shall I do, Rabbi? he asked in despair. And the Baal Shem Tov answered, Love him more than ever!

One evening, several of Rabbi Chaim of Kosovs hasidim sat together in his House of Study and told one another stories about great tzaddikim of the past, and about the holy Baal Shem. And because both the telling and the listening were very sweet to them, they were at it even after midnight. Then one of them told still another story about the Baal Shem Tov. When he had ended, another sighed from the bottom of his heart. Alas! said he, half to himself. Where could we find such a man today?

At that instant, the hasidim heard steps coming down the wooden stairs that led from their rebbes room. The door opened and Rabbi Chaim appeared on the threshold, in the short jacket he usually wore in the evening. Fools, he said softly, he is present in every generation, he, the Baal Shem Tov, only in those days he was manifest, while today he is hidden. Rabbi Chaim closed the door and went back up the stairs. The hasidim sat together in silence.

When you tell stories about holy people, and you tell other people there are holy people in the world, it fills you with joy.

RABBI SHLOMO CARLEBACH

by Elie Wiesel

No single volume could ever hope to encompass the essence, the spirit, or the magnitude of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. So, first and foremost, I would like to humbly acknowledge my own limitations, the limitations of time and space, and the limitations of this book. It should not be considered a comprehensive account by any means; instead, it should be viewed as a single superficial scratch on the surface of a remarkable man who stretched across worlds and whose spiritual riches are just beginning to be mined. This book is meant to be used simply as a kaleidoscope, offering fragments, facets, glimpses, dimensions, snapshots, and sparks. It is my greatest hope and most fervent wish that many more works about Reb Shlomo will follow, so that the world can truly know and benefit from his light.

Working on this book has been an intense and spiritually uplifting experience, a privilege, and a gift. I have had the honor of meeting the chevraShlomos friends and followersfrom all over the world, and I have been enriched by each one. They are shining examples of Shlomos legacy: spiritual seekers who are thoughtful, reflective, kind, loving, generous, and sweet. I want to thank each and every one of them for their warmth, enthusiasm, and tremendous cooperation and devotion to this project. Without them, it could never have happened. There were hundreds, and I owe them all a great debt.

I especially want to thank those on the West Coast: Aryae Coopersmith, Janice Belson, Joy Krauthammer, Darlene Rose, Olivia Schwartz, Michael and Jill Elias, Michael Ozair, and Jeanette Goldberg. Midnight Musics Stuart Wax (who will certainly one day have a book written about him) is an amazing prototype of a new breed of Jew firmly taking root in Los Angeles. He is in the vanguard of the Shlomo Chevra on the West Coast, and he and his wife, Enny, were pivotal in many ways in helping me.

On the East Coast, no one was more dedicated to the mandate of this book and more generous with his time than Joey Greenblatt. Mayer Appel, Denise Sassoon, Rabbi Yehuda Fine, Rabbi Joel Dinnerstein, Rabbi Yaakov Haber, Penina Shram, Rabbi Howard Schwartz, Rabbi Yisroel Finman, Hadassah Carlebach, Rabbi Zalman Schacter, Lisa Mechanick, Charley Roth, Devora Davi, Raquel Schraub, Yaakov Braude, Rabbi Laizer and Michelle Garner, Menachem Daum, Rabbi Eliahu Klein, and Chaya Adler were also exceptionally helpful. Shulamith Levovitz, Shlomo Carlebachs older sister and the last remaining sibling of the Carlebach clan, was singularly dedicated, involved, and committed to the fruition of this projectliving, breathing, and dreaming it with me. I am privileged to know her and call her my friend.

In Israel Dr. Joshua Ritchie, who has already established a Bais Shlomo outreach center and synagogue in the old city, was enormously generous with his time, as were Sharon Braun, Rabbi Itzik Aisenstadt, Faye Bloom, Rabbi Simcha Hochbaum, Rabbi Uzi Weingarten and Tuvia Heller.

Of all the Shlomo chevra, I have reserved my final and most heartfelt thanks for the man who, more than anyone else, served as my mentor, guide, and champion throughout the entire process: Rabbi Meir Fund, a talmid chaver of Reb Shlomos and currently the spiritual leader of Brooklyns inspiring Flatbush Minyan. Rabbi Fund is the ultimate example of someone whose own extraordinary inroads into uncharted Jewish territory and exemplary achievements with searching Jewish souls have been highly informed by Shlomos teachings, and I am deeply indebted to him for the assistance he rendered to me so cheerfully, graciously, and generously, during the writing of this book.