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Old March 18th, 2008 #13
EireannGoddess
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Case of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach


Neo-Hassidic rabbi and singer


Call to Action: Accountability in the Portrayal of Shlomo Carlebach -- Tzadduk (saint)? Serial Sexual Predator?

Shlomo Carlebach, the popular Neo-Hassidic rabbi and singer, is the son of Rabbi Nephtali Hartwig and Paula Cohn Carlebach.

He is the descendent of a family of rabbis, most of whom had aligned themselves with Hassidism, the mystical form of Judaism which emerged in central and eastern Europe in the eighteenth century.

Allegations of sexual misconduct against Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach can be dated back to the 1960's.

Among the many people Lilith Magazine spoke with, nearly all had heard stories of Rabbi Carlebach's sexual indiscretions during his more than four-decade rabbinic career.

Spiritual leaders, psychotherapists, and others report numerous incidents, from playful propositions to actual sexual contact.

Most of the allegations include middle-of-the-night, sexually charged phone calls and unwanted attention or propositions. Others, which have been slower to emerge, relate to sexual molestation.

Rabbi Carlebach was seen as "being bigger then life", "He touched many people on a level that they have rarely been touched in their lives."

Such idealization was only the beginning of a process of canonizing Rabbi Carlebach, a process that has continued since his death.

A number of his followers told Lilith Magazine that Rabbi Carlebach, when alive, "walked with the humblest of the humble" and "never said he was a holy man."

But with his death came an outpouring of love, and a degree of idolization that did not easily allow followers to recognize what others gently call his "shadow side"
http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/Carlebach_Shlomo.html