On August 27, we will have our last Shabbat Odyssey service of the summer. The music of the service will change from the electronic light rock music of Craig Taubman, Paul Zim and others to that of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. The “Carlebach” service is a combination of folk and European Chassidic music, presented with guitar. As with our regular Odyssey service, there will be lots of singing and dancing and the ability to participate with rhythm instruments. It is a service for all ages. Below is some brief information about Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s influence on Jewish music, as well as the new resurgence in it’s synagogue influence.

See the bottom of this page for a link to the tunes that will be used in the Shlomo Carlebach Shabbat Odyssey service.

"The Pied Piper of Judaism," an article published in an issue of the Jerusalem Report, following his death, offered general biographical details concerning Shlomo Carlebach's life, and stressed his quality of Ahavat Yisrael, love of the people of Israel. It was noted that Shlomo "sang wherever there were Jews, from American prisons to Indian ashrams," and concluded, "He taught an orphaned generation numbed by the Holocaust and assimilation how to return to joy."

Shlomo's double-cassette album Sweetest Friends and The Gift of Shabbos, recorded not long before his death, contained many new songs, among them some of his finest work, and reminds one why Carlebach had no peers - and no successors." On The Gift of Shabbos cassette, Shlomo articulated that his deepest prayer was "that we fill the world with a new song." The article concluded by asserting that this "album proves that no one in our generation did more than Shlomo Carlebach to reinvigorate Jewish music and sing that new song."

Miriam Shaviv, a reporter, chronicled the dissemination of the Carlebach influence following his death in 1994, pointing out that "his following has skyrocketed to levels possibly equaling the height of his popularity, in the 50s and 60s." Friday night Carlebach-style prayer services were cropping up in the United States and in Israel. The fact that various synagogues have incorporated some of Shlomo's songs into their liturgy was noted in several additional instances.

In October 1998 the Saatchi Synagogue opened in London. This whole shul was based on the Carlebach style of service. The shul conducted traditional services, though it was not affiliated with the Orthodox United Synagogue, and drew many singles. Services don't run for more than two hours; siddurim have English transliteration; and there's lots of singing and dancing, "Shlomo Carlebach style". While this type of congregation may be found both in Israel and in the United States, it was, very much, an innovation in far more staid Britain.

In a cover story in the Jerusalem Report on the religious revival in Israel it was reported that the renewed interest in Judaism is evident even in the "Ashkenazi yuppiedom." It was recounted, how a follower of Rabbi Carlebach had been approached by a group of transcendental meditators from Kfar Saba, who sought to be introduced to Judaism's soulful, meditative side. They started by singing Shlomo's songs and then the disciple of Carlebach related the Rhyziner Rebbe's meditation on the phrase ki kadosh ani..., because I am holy. If one really imbibes that simple sentiment deeply, feels oneself to be truly holy, one might behave differently during the course of the day.