Yes, Shlomo Carlebach, zatzal

Yes, this is the season to especially remember Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach.

I first "met" him in the mid 1960's, when Joel Paul, then youth director of the Great Neck Synagogue invited him out to perform. The show was ok, but the best was the after the show-show when we (a small group) went to someone's house and he sang and talked, and talked and sang and of course we sang along. It was very special.

Yitz, of Heichal Hanegina, has a good memorial post. Actually, that's why I decided to write something.

One of the great things about him was that he didn't claim to be perfect, nor did he demand perfection. That's how he attracted so many people to Torah-Judaism.

The truly amazing thing is how his spirit was so accepted in Olam Hazeh only after his body left. It's rare. Usually people have more power when their neshama is in their body, since the body gives a material strength, which normal people need to achieve their aims. With Reb Shlomo, it was the opposite. His message has grown stronger since his body is gone. His neshama is eternal.