Rebbe Yerachmial of Pshische was once walking through town
when he saw a group of dead people, wrapped in
shrouds, wandering through the streets.

"You fellows are all dead. You are all wearing the clothes
of the dead. What are you doing here among the living?" With
that, they all ran back to the cemetery.

Rebbe Yerachmial explained, "Sometimes you find dead people
who act as though they were alive. And sometimes you find the
living who act as though they were dead."

"Okay, now the world thinks that it's really a big miracle
to resurrect the dead. But really it's not so difficult.
What is really difficult is to resurrect the living. Since
they think they're really alive, it would take a miracle
to revive them."

1) The Gravesite next to the Megala Amukus.

Everybody knows that the holy megala amukus was one of the holiest
and deepest kabbalists of Krakow of the sixteenth century. Before
he died, the megala amukus commanded that adjoining space be set
aside next to his grave for someone on a level of holiness to buried
there. Since the megala amukas was so holy, the space remained vacant
for nearly one hundred years.

Late one night, the president of the Krakow community was awakened by
loud knocking on his door. At the door was a holy beggar he had never
seen before. So the president asked the beggar, "what is your
business coming to me in the middle of the night". And the beggar
told the president that his time was drawing near to leave this
world, and that his business was to purchase the gravesite next to
the holy megala amukus for one hundred groshy. The president knew it
was totally inappropriate for such a shlepper to buried on holy ground,
let alone for a mere hundred groshy. But did he really want to stay up
arguing with this strage shlepper in the middle of the night.
So the president accept the beggar's one hundred groshy. Dismissing
the beggar, the President of the Community of Krakow promptly dropped
the money into his pushka (charity box) and returned to bed.

The next day, there was a tumolt in the Krakow main synagogue.
A beggar that nobody knew had died in the middle of the morning prayers.
Now the Synagogue Presidents of nowadays are holy and sweet, maybe
they give the synagagoue a few Rubles, but they are just Synagogue
Presidents. In Krakow in the seventeenth century, the President
of the Synagogue is not just a leader of as synagogue, he is
President of the entire community, even the burial society (Hevra
Kadisha). So the President of the Community of Krakow
was called to attend to the burial of the beggar without a name.
Coming to the synagogue, the President saw that he was the
very same beggar who had spoken to him the previous night.
Yet how could the president tell anyone such an incredible story?
So the president was silent and the hevra kadisha buried
the beggar in a pauper's plot on the far side of the cemetery.

That night the beggar appeared to the president in a dream, accusing
the president of reneging on his promise. In the dream, the beggar
told the president to keep his word and move the beggar's grave next
to the megala amukus. The next morning the president, although shaken,
told the dream to no one. After all, who would believe such an
incredible story?  The following night, the beggar again appeared
in the president's dream. This time, the beggar told the president
that he would answer to the Heavenly Court unless the grave was moved.
But upon awakening, the President was still to frightened to tell
anyone this story. So he remained silent.

The third night, the beggar appeared yet again to the president.
This time, the beggar told him that it was no joke anymore, that
if the president maintained his silence any longer, the beggar himself
would take the president before the Heavenly Court.

The president awoke immediately in sheer terror, fearing for
his very life. In the dead the night he ran to the house of
the Rabbi of Krakow and banged on the door. The Rabbi, interrupting
his meditations, welcomed the president into
his house. So the president proceeded to tell the story of how
the beggar had purchased the gravesite next to the holy megala amukus
from the Community of Krakow for one hundred groshy.

Now everybody knows that the Rabbis of Poland of the seventeenth century
were not like the Rabbis of today. Even though the Rabbis of today are
cute and holy, the Rabbis of Krakow were not only holy, they were all
learned in the mysteries of Kabbalah, and knew the secrets of communication
with souls that had left their bodies. So the Rabbi of Warsaw told the
president that it wasn't fair for the beggar to call the president to
the Heavenly Court, but that he, the Rabbi, would call down the beggar
to the Earthly Court. So the Rabbi set an appointment with the president
to convene the Bes Din of Krakow at ten in the morning.

When the time came, the president returned to the house of the Rabbi.
Now when you convene BesDin, each of the parties selects a Judge. And the
two Judges together select a third judge. So the Rabbi said to the president,
Do you appoint me to be your judge? And the president agreed. Then
the Rabbi seated the president in one corner of the room. Now the
Rabbi removed his tallis, placing it on a chair on the far corner
of the room. O Holy Beggar, I call you down from Heaven to appear before
the Bes Din of Krakow. Holy Beggar, select your judge! Together,
we call upon the Master of the Universe to sit with us as the third Judge.
Now, President of the Community of Krakow, since you have the
hundred grushy of the Holy Beggar, the BesDin calls upon you to explain
your case. Why don't you fulfill your agreement with the beggar and
move his grave next to the Megala Amukus. Or why don't you go up to
the beggar and return the one hundred groshy. So the president
explained that how was absurd for such a holy gravesite to be sold for
a mere hundred grushy, and that the beggar's money was given to tzeduka
instead. Then the Rabbi called upon the Holy Beggar to state his case.
And the Court listened as the voice of the beggar, coming from under
the talis, told the story of how he had purchased the grave next to
the megala amukus for one hundred groshy and wanted the president to
adhere to his side of the agreement and re-bury him.

When the beggar's voice completed telling his side of the
story, the Rabbi got up and announced that the Bes Din had reached
a decision. The Rabbi noted that two separate agreements were involved.
On the one hand, the beggar's claim of an agreement
between the beggar and the President. On the other side, the Megala
Amukus' wishes were that only a person of sufficient holiness could
be buried next to him. But, the Rabbi also noted that our Sages teach
that no Earthly Court can ever rule on someone's level of holiness.
Such a ruling must come from a Higher Place.
Thus the Rabbi announced, "Holy Beggar, we the Beis Din of the
Holy City of Krakow cannot rule on your fitness to be buried
next to the megala amukus. If you are on the level, you will be
able to accomplish this yourself. Therefore, we the Holy Beis Din of
Krakow command the Heavenly Court to take whatever action it
finds necessary in accordance with the agreement between this
beggar and the Community of Krakow, the wishes of the Megala Amukus and
the fitness of this beggar to buried next to him."
So adjourned the Holy Court of the Rabbi of Krakow.

The following morning, the Hevra Kadisha (burial society) noticed
that the plot where the beggar had been buried was vacated.
And next to the megala amukus, a mound of freshly shoveled earth.
So they placed a matzeva (tombstone) there saying, "Here is
buried a holy beggar whose name is unknown".

2) Kiddush haLevana Menahem Av, Yerushalayim 5733.
Rabbeinu and the Rebbe of Amshinov.

In 1973 shlomo was walking down to the holy wall on tishabav
with his holy chevra. one of the hippilach was carrying
a guitar. some hareidim (super-orthodox) were
offended by the guitar on tisha bav, and the presence of female disciples
in a mixed group. the more extreme threatened the group with stoning
until Rav Getz ZY"A, Rav of the kosel, stood between the two
groups and told the hareidim that they would have to stone him first.

later that night, the holy lelover and the holy
amshinover, ZY"A, hearing what had happened,
personally accompanied reb shlomo to the kosel to express support
and bless shlomo and the hevra with peace at kiddush levana.

afterward the amshinover was heard to tell his hasidim that (reb shlomo)
"goes into places that we are unable to reach ourselves and gathers in
the sparks that even we ourselves could not."

today the grandson, the current rebbe YL"H, a regular at the
tzyun of the amshinover rebbe at har hamenuhot was seen
in hishtahviay (full prostration) on a nearby holy tzyun, the grave of the
rebbe who gathered in the sparks from places his grandfather did
not reach...


3) True Kindness Rewarded.

Once Rabbeinu was a passenger in an automobile on the way
to give a concert.  Suddenly he called to out to his driver, "Hey
brother, when's the next rest stop? On second thought brother,
I have a slight emergency, would it be too hard to pull over
a little sooner...?" So his driver pulled over to the shoulder,
and our Rebbe jumped out to find a place "to meditate."
As it so happened, this chosen place at the side of the highway
happened to be a cemetery. As soon as Rabbeinu satisfied his
needs, he saw a funeral taking place. Nebekh,  there weren't
any people there, only the of the hearse and the cemetary
caretakers attending to the burial. So our Rebbe, despite his appointment,
took a few minutes to attend the burial of a poor man with no family
or friends to attend his funeral. As Rabbeinu was about to leave, he
noticed an open guestbook on the hearse. So he signed his name and
address into the guestbook, and returned to the car and proceeded
on his way to the concert that night.

Some months later, Rabbeinu was surprised by a check in the
mail for ten thousand dollars. Attached to the check was a letter
from a lawyer.  The letter said, "I got your name from the guest book
at the funeral of the man whose estate I represent. This man willed
all his money to the people who would attend his funeral."

4) Thirteen days in Menahem Av, 5755.

The Hevra Kadisha of Yerushalayim buried a small book of tehillim
(psalms) next to Reb Shlomo Carlebach. A couple of nights later, Reb
Shlomo appeared to one of his hevra (disciples) in a dream. "The fools!
Nebekh. Is this all I bring with me into the next world? What about the
teachings of Rebbe Nahman (of Breslov)? More important, what about the
address book in my room? I must have these names with me!"
So the list of names were placed on the grave site of Reb Shlomo.

On the afternoon of the thirteenth of Menahem Av, 5755, at a cemetery
at the gates of Yerushalayim, a stone was placed on this place.
The stone revealed some of greatness of Rabbeinu and forever covered
the list of names whose souls Rabbeinu saved.

At the same time, beside the golden gates of san francisco bay,
the soul of jerry garcia, founder of the rock band that called itself the
grateful dead, departed this earthly world.



5) Tribute to Jerry
 From the Grateful Yiddin of the Happy Minyan

              In the late sixties, there was a great awakening in the world.
Thousands of  youth took to the streets, Jews and Non Jews, yearning for a
deeper meaning to life and its experiences. Many were disenchanted with
society, materialism, war, civil rights, lack of respect for human life
and the destruction of the environment to only to name a few. This is
when Reb Shlomo Carlebach Zt"l came on the scene to "turn on our love
lights" and give over his Torahs to the world, but this also the time
when Jerry Garcia. who left us this week, came to share his.

                Was the late Jerry Garcia Jewish? Besides a few rumors
that have circulated about is being from Marrano descent the answer,
as we understand it, is no. What then would bring us, an orthodox
minyan in L.A., to honoring a guitarist with a devoted following of
hundreds of thousands in the world community?

           To begin in answering these questions the Talmud says the
following: 'Pious ones of all  nations have a share in the World to Come.
I call heaven and earth to witness that the Divine Spirit rests upon
each person, Jew or gentile, man or woman, master or slave, in consonance
with one's deeds'. If this is so, then how can we not, as a community devoted
to bringing more love, harmony, and ultimate oneness into the world, honor
the lofty, compassionate soul that is now waking up to the morning 
dew in Heaven.

                Still, the central reason behind our honoring the late
Jerome John Garcia, known as Jerry,  is that to an exceptionally large
handful of us in the chevra  (circle of friends), Jerry played a vital
role in being mekarev  us (making us closer) to the deeper dimensions
of life that we did not know exist.  As for those of us who already
were aware of these altered states of it was at a Dead show that it could
all be realized and celebrated. In fact, anybody who has ever dared to
dream about the type of dancing that will take place in Yerushalayim
(Jerusalem) when the Great Day arrives might have already tasted it
at a show, thanks to Jerry.

                For many of us who had later come around to discover
Yiddishkeit (Judaism). the reason why we felt so much at home with
Yiddishkeit  and especially, Hassidiut  (Teachings of the Hassidic
masters), was because it was as if we already understood its song
without ever really having learned the words. Thanks to Jerry, of
course, there seemed to be a familiar message ringing in our ears when
studying the mystical works of Baal Shem Tov, Rebbe Nachman. Levi Yitzchok,
Ishbitz, Zusya, Elimelech, Schneerson and Carlebach. In fact, the message
was clearly calling us to "Wake up to find out that we were the eyes of
the world" and that "once in while you get shown the Light in the strangest
of places,  if you look at it right". And in the strangest  way, as for many
of us, it was Jerry who was our very first rebbe! A rebbe who did not give
over his words, as much as he did his essence . Words, Reb Shlomo Carlebach
would often teach us, are finite. It's what's behind the words, the essence,
that connects us to infinity. For many of us. it was Jerry Garcia's essence,
as given over through his music, that served as our significant 
channel to infinity.

                So just as any Grateful Yid  has the obligation to honor
his/her own rebbe. it is our obligation to honor the late Jerry Garcia for
one of the basic principles of Jewish faith is the concept of Hakarat Hatov.
The mitzvah of Hakarat Hatov  is the act of acknowledging the goodness that
someone has done for you, and doing your utmost to reciprocate that goodness,
even if you might have outgrown the teacher, path, or way of life.

                Do you remember your first show? Do you remember how many
gates were opened to you since that first show? Do you remember the smiles
in everybody's faces and the awesome love  in everybody's eyes? Do you remember
how, after feeling that love between tens of thousands of people, it actually
dawned upon you for the first time that there actually was hope in changing
the world? That human beings actually had it in  them to truly love and create
a paradise on earth? Do you remember those levels of utter freedom that you
reached to which all hidden mysteries were revealed to you as you danced
your way through the different worlds? Who took you there? Who brought you
back? Jerry did, and he did because he understood that his playing had a
language of its own. A language that somehow only our neshamos  (souls)
understood. Jerry's music was his torah. Its message, beyond words, 
mamash beyond words.

                Reb Shlomo Carlebach was once asked which kind of niggunim
(melodies) were among his favorite. He answered the ones that you can cry to,
laugh to and dance with, all at the same time. For all of us who knew Jerry's
music. there is no better way to describe the relationship we had with it. His
music clearly came from a very lofty place. A place that can and has changed
our lives forever in but a few precious moments. Our job in remembering Jerry
is in holding on to those precious moments, forever.

                Being that we lost our dear friend Jerry Garcia just before
Shabbos Nachamu, the Shabbat of comforting in the Jewish tradition I want
to share a comforting teaching from our own holy Reb Shlomo with anybody who
has ever suffered loss.

                "As much as it takes a lot of holiness and depth to know how
to laugh, it takes even more holiness to know how to cry. But it's important
that you know one thing that all the rebbes say, the Baal Shem, Reb Nachman,
all the rebbes: That even while you're sad, don't ever stop being filled with
joy. You are absolutely not permitted, even for one split second, to stop being
filled with joy. Because if you truly believe there is One G-d in the world,
then you also believe that He is taking care of our world as well. So how could
you be sad. But yet, the problem is, I'm still a human being and I'm still so
  sad, so  broken.

                So the question is, how do I reach that level to be so sad, and
while I'm still sad, I'm at the same time so filled with joy? What should my
crying sound like at this point? Like Reb Akiva says, I have no choice, I'm
crying with one side of my heart and laughing, with the other side of my heart.
Gevaldt, is that hard. But it's the only way we know right now, and it's the
holiest way we know right now.

                You don't have to be a Deadhead, or be into Shlomo, or even be
a Jew to connect with these holy words. All you have to be is a human being
with a heart. But even a heart is not enough, as Shlomo has taught us. It has
to be a heart with a little broken place in it. For a heart with a broken place
in it, really is the greatest blessing of all. For if you don't have that
broken place inside of you, then you are full. Those that are completely full,
full of themselves and their own concerns, do not have any room left in them
for G-d, for holiness, for things divine and especially, for other people. So
I bless you and I, and the whole world with just a little bit of a broken
heart, not too broken, G-d forbid,but broken enough so that we are no longer
blind to each other's needs. The truth is, that now more than ever, we really
do need each other. Now that all our rebbes are "headlights on a north bound
train", we really need each other in the deepest way. "There comes a time" and
that time has surely arrived! The holy truth is, that we are all living
together in the Uni - Verse, singing the same songs. even the same verse, and
it's just a matter of time that we truly realize it, together.

      Wishing you the holiest of moments and all blessings Divine.

                                                   Michael Ozair



6)
  Who are the "happy yidden"? Many baale theshuva, Jewish  neshamos,
were first touched by a soul, not likely jewish himself, (but again who
really knows?) fully aware of this faults, yet barely conscious of his
entering into the places that we ourselves fear to enter
and gathering sparks that we ourselves do not...

How did this humble rock star create souls out of "haran", bringing souls
out from the darkness to the Light? While giving true expression to
words such as "his job is to spread Light, not to master".
or "sometimes you get shown the Light in the strangest of places
if you look at it right", the message was really not in the lyrics
but in how the music played itself out in the moment.

7)
Rabbeinu spoke of sparks of light that he gathered in and
had grown beard, "payas und shtreiml mit kapata" -- or "sheitl" --
those who forgot the spark that returned them to the Source,
even sparks that called him "shanda" -- disgrace.

I still see our Rebbe's face shining whenever he talked
of these most ungrateful and foolish souls and how he
forgave them their ingratitude.

Rabbeinu brought neshamas back by revealing the
hidden light within every person and reflecting, shining it back
to him and her.

The list of these neshamos that our rebbe lifted up
up in turn, carried Rabbeinu up into the highest realms of the World
to Come.

Today we praise the soul who was called up to the Heavenly Court
at the very time of the revelation of the matzeva which covers the
hidden names. We praise the soul who was called to the Heavenly
Court on the date the Megala Amuqos
saved a place at his side in the coming world for a tzaddik
whose deeds and whose very name remains hidden from us.

Today is the date that this Heavenly Court of three brings down
the depths of the teaching of Hilel haZaken, "al tadoon et haveraha ad
shetigas l'mkomo", not to judge the soul of any neshama save our very own...


------------------------------
Date: Wed, 09 Aug 2000 12:22:21 EDT
From: LMechanick@aol.com
Subject: Reb Shlomo on Miracles
To: <reb-shlomo@shamash.org>
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Copyright (C) 1975 by the Members of the House of Love and Prayer
Reprinted with the permission of all the Holy Beggars....

Not for commercial redistribution without
written consent of the Estate of Reb Shlomo Carlebach

San Francisco. Kislev 5735

Transcribed and edited by (Rabbi) Elana Rappaport (Shechter)
Reb Shlomo speaking

On Miracles

     Am I a Jew because of all the miracles that I saw Moshe perform
for us? If someone were to ask me what was happening at Mt. Sinai,
and I were to answer, "It was the greatest miracle ever -- I could
hear G-d's voice," how would it sound? Something is wrong. Mt. Sinai
was a miracle? What if someone walked in here and performed
miracles? Imagine someone came in and made the house disappear.
He would be top man, right? Then he would say, "In the name of G-d,
I don't want you to keep Shabbos. Keep Sunday." I have to say he must
be a messenger of G-d because he performed so many miracles. If
someone comes and turns over Heaven and Earth and performs all the
miracles in the world, I will still spit in his face. Shabbos is Shabbos
and it is not Sunday. If I as a Jew need a miracle to show the world
that I am chosen, that is depending on tricks. On the highest level,
even G-d's miracles are tricks. True belief is much deeper than all that.

     Reb Labele Ager, originally one of the Chassidim of the Kotsker
who later went to the lshbitzer, says that if you doubt, and then you
see a miracle which makes you believe, that is a very low kind of
believing. We think a miracle proves things. He asks, "Is this all we
Yiddelach are capable of? Believing after seeing miracles? If someone
would come with miracles to prove there is no G-d it wouldn't change
me a bit." He says that if the choseness of Aaron depended on miracles
it would be meaningless. The Jews were not doubting that G-d told
Moshe Rabbenu that Aaron should be chosen. They were complaining
that Moshe Rabbenu asked G-d to choose his brother, and therefore
Aaron was chosen. They felt that if Moshe had asked for someone else
G-d would have chosen him. So, they were angry with Moshe. "Why do
you take care of your family only?"

     There is such a thing as a miracle. There is also something much
deeper than a miracle. Something happens and G-d opens your eyes,
and you know this is so, it really is so. Mt. Sinai was not a miracle.
It really was so. The ten plagues were miracles, The crossing of the
Red Sea was a miracle. Mt. Sinai was not a miracle, It was much
deeper than that. You heard G-d's voice? It was not a miracle. When
Aaron's stick began growing it was not a miracle, but G-d told Moshe
He would show them who Aaron really was. Aaron can take a dry stick
and make it grow. That is all there is to it; it was not a miracle.

     Reb Labele Ager says that sometimes G-d performs miracles to
help us, and sometimes He doesn't perform miracles, but G-d shows
us something. Because G-d has compassion on us, He sees that we
have so many doubts we don't know what to do with ourselves, so
G-d shows us something, which is not a miracle. Sometimes we
think, "Is there really one G-d in the world?" Then something happens
to us and mamash, we know. It was not a miracle. G-d was showing us,
"I really am here."

     Miracles are just to prove someone's power. Reb Labele Ager says
that after a person performs a miracle, he needs a lot of help from
Heaven to prevent people from thinking it was a miracle. If something
is on the level of a miracle, it is possible to walk away and say, "maybe
it wasn't a miracle." You might find an 'anti-trick' and say it wasn't a
miracle, Reb Labele Ager says the truth can't be proved by a miracle
because the truth is much deeper than a miracle. The Baal Shem
performed a lot of miracles. If someone says, "I can show you bigger
miracles," will he be the Baal Shem Tov? No. The Baal Shem is more
than miracles. The Baal Shem is the Baal Shem. Moshe Rabbenu is
Moshe Rabbenu. This is a good thing to remember because we are
always waiting for signs from Heaven. If you are waiting for G-d to
let you know, that is good. If you are waiting for a miracle, that's bad.
Just pray that G-d will let you know.

     Suppose a person performs a miracle, and then I walk out to
the world and I am fighting with people over it. "Listen, I saw the
miracle and you didn't. I'm a G-d person and you aren't." The whole
big thing is already a sign that it was not real. A true holy miracle
is so strong that there can't be any fighting afterwards. When Aaron's
stick began to grow there was so much peace that they knew Aaron
was chosen.

     Listen folks, this is good to remember. If the whole world comes
and tells me there are people who perform miracles, holy people who
say good things, it doesn't change me one billionth of an inch from
being a Jew and fulfilling every word of the Torah, because this
comes from a much deeper place. Maybe a person is very holy,
maybe he has reached the level where he can say holy words, maybe
he has reached the level where he can perform miracles, but my
Jewishness, my holiness doesn't come from that level of miracles.
It comes from the world of "it really is so." It really is so.


------------------------------
Date: Wed, 09 Aug 2000 13:03:52 EDT
From: LMechanick@aol.com
Subject: Modzitzer Negunim
To: <reb-shlomo@shamash.org>
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Modzitzer negunim 


As Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach tells it, in 1933 or 1934 Arturo Toscanini was in Tel Aviv to conduct the Palestine Philharmonic when he expressed the desire to hear something "very Jewish" His Jewish son-in-law sent him to the Modzitzer rebbe who was known to let loose with some rather beautiful negunim or melodies used in prayer or at meals. The conductor went. 
"It was dark and no one was watching," Rabbi Carlebach relates the now widely told anecdote. "Toscanini wrote down all these negunim." 

At the Philharmonic concert, Toscanini announced: "I have a surprise for you," and proceded to conduct the orchestra's performance of Modzitzer negunim. 

"It was so awesome, nobody could clap," Carlebach said. "Toscanini came out on the stage and told the yidden 'This is your music.' He ranked the rebbe with Mozart and Beethoven." 

The Modzitz Chasidic dynasty is famous for its musical prowess but is virtually unknown outside the Chasidic world. There have been some 2,000 Modzitzer negunim composed, according to Rabbi Benzion Shenker, aleader of the small Modzitz community in Brooklyn. 

"Many of them have been lost," Rabbi Shenker told the Forward. "I have notations for probably 800." 

It all began in Poland where the grandfather of the first Modzitzer rebbe, who lived in the town of Kuzmir was known as a lover of negunim. The rebbe's father, who resided in Zvolin, was a fervent composer. 

Yisroel Taub, the first Modzitzer rebbe, did not spend his entire life in Modzitz, a small city in the province of Lublin. After World War I he moved to Warsaw where he died in 1921. 

Before the war, the rebbe journeyed to Berlin to have his gangrenous leg amputated. The rebbe declined anesthesia because at the time there was a belief that among its side effects was the possibility of losing your mind. Instead the rebbe set his mind to concentrating on the composition of a new melody. The half hour negun was entitled "I Remember" and to this day is sung on the rebbe's yahrtzeit as well as the high holy days. 

The secoond Modzitzer rebbe, Shaul Taub, fled from Poland to Vilna when World War II broke out but stayed there briefly before deciding to come to America. In late 1940 the rebbe arrived in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn where he spent seven years before moving to Palestine. 

It was in Williamsburg that both Rabbi Shenker and Rabbi Carlebach fell into the Modzitzer orbit. 

Carlebach had just been bar mitzvahed and was enrolled in the Mesivta Tora Vodas yeshiva when he started attending the mobbed gatherings at the synagogue and at the rebbe's tish or table. 

"It was gevalt," Carlebach recalls. "His neshama [soul] was music. He didn't compose it. It just came out of him day and night." 

Shenker recalls the rebbe composing a 12 to 14 minute long melody on Friday night and with the help of those around him, had it committed to memory so it could be written down when shabbos was over. 

"He'd say 'Try to remember this, try to remember that and people would try to pick it up. That's how a Modzitzer negun was born on shabbos." 

The second Modzitzer rebbe died six months after his arrival in the Holy Land in 1947. The third Modzittzer rebbe, Shmuel Eliyahu Taub, served until 1984. 

The fourth and current Modzitzer rebbe, Yisroel Don Taub, is 64 years old and lives in Tel Aviv where there are some 500 Modzitzer families. Most of his negunim are composed for the High Holy Days and a recording of the new melodies is sent to Shenker in Brooklyn. 

"Once we get it, it's immediately disseminated," Shenker said. "There surely is anticipation." 

There are a total of 200 Modzitzer Chasidim in New York, most are in Brooklyn. Many attend sabbath services at the Modzitz synagogue in the Midwood section. 

"I know people who are not religious at all who've come by the shul and were brought to tears by the negunim," observes Andy Statman, the klezmer clarinet virtuoso who is a member of the Modzitzer congregation. Statman manages to work in a Modzitzer tune or two at concerts and the secular as well as religious weddings he plays. 

The Modzitzer synagogue had been offering sabbath services only but is now, due to increased attendance, there are daily services. The newfound popularity, attributable in no small part to the moving negunim, may necessitate a move to larger quarters. 

"We're a small group but a very lively one," notes Shenker, a composer in his own right. His album "A Shabbos in Modzitz" (Aderet) features traditional Modzitzer negunim as well as his own compositions. Shenker is backed by an intergenerational choir that includes his five grandchildren. 

"He writes unbeleivable stuff," notes Statman. "He's one of the great treasures we have in Jewish music." 


 
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