On the occasion of Reb Shlomo Carlebach’s 22nd yahrzeit (he died on Heshvan 16, 5755, October 20, 1994) we invite you to enjoy “Li’olam Aincha Yode’ah” (You Never Know), a 2008 documentary film by Boaz Shahak.
Synopsis:
There are two questions you can ask another human being: “What are you?” and “Who are you?”
If you ask “What are you” – you destroy the world. If you ask “Who are you?” you build the world…” (Shlomo Carlebach).
In 1966, at a festival in Berkley, between Pete Seeger and “Jefferson Airplane,” a young Rabbi came on stage with a guitar and began to sing. Shlomo Carlebach was a brilliant young Torah scholar who had been sent by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to bring Torah to the hippies of San Francisco. But when his love for them transgressed the boundaries of halacha (Jewish Law), he was shunned by the Orthodox establishment.
Carlebach once said in a radio interview that he composed no less than 4,000 original melodies. 22 years ago he passed away, penniless; today his music fills concert halls and in almost every Jewish community there is a community of his followers.