A retrospective after Tisha B’Av

Over the past few years, rabbi and singer, Shlomo Katz has become one of the most prominent interpreters of the musical legacy of Reb Shlomo Carlebach. This legacy has recently been reflected in a new book published in Israel by Mosaica Press, entitled “The Soul of Jerusalem: Teachings of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach,” consisting of the texts of stories of Rabbi Carlebach as compiled by Rabbi Katz.

As we look back to this year’s observance of the Three Weeks and take to heart the events still swirling about us, please read further several extracts from this work that give greater relevance to Carlebach’s and Katz’s unique Kabbalistic oriented takes on the relevant themes that apply to the upcoming High Holiday season.

“Tisha B’Av is really the preparation for Yom Kippur; because Tisha B’Av is when you take the broken vessels and these broken vessels now become vessels themselves, this is the whole thing of Yom Kippur.

“It’s paving the way for Yom Kippur … say I did this wrong, I did this wrong; on Tisha B’Av I just know that whatever was until now, so far was not right. It means in my own private life also on a general level. If I go on a private individual level then my Brokenness doesn’t become a vessel. But if I look at my vessels and see they are destroyed and I say ‘I can’t go on like this,’ then the destruction itself is the greatest vessel in the world. You see what it is, this whole thing made me change because of it.”

Another holiday connect as cited by Katz is the following teaching by Carlebach:

“On Tisha B’Av we are not permitted to learn because we are in mourning. On Simchas Torah we don’t learn because we are dancing all the time. On these two days G-d is teaching us the deepest depths of Torah which is beyond my knowledge, beyond my mind, beyond everything.

“On Tisha B’ Av I receive this deepest Torah from G-d while I’m sitting on the floor. On Simchas Torah I receive it while I’m dancing, when I get up from the floor. Both are the highest teachings.”