Let Shlomo Die

Shlomo is Dead. Let Him Die.

In wake of #MeToo, the movement to boycott Carlebach tunes is gaining steam and if the spread of the entire movement is any indication, singing Carlebach is going to soon to become verboten to all folk who believe they are woke. Woe unto any sh’liach tzibur caught unbeknowings singing a Carlebach tune; other participants will signal their virtue by loudly changing the tune in his face; chastise him (or her for that matter) over kiddush for his insensitivity to women and sexual abuse, or at the very least, tsk tsk over his naivete and ask that immediately learn which songs are shlomos’s so that he can adhere to the new halacha in the future. As one of the campaigners writes; “the greatest challenge of uprooting Shlomo Carlebach is identifying it.”

Does that make any sense at all? If some people are thinking about God while singing that verse and not about Shlomo, well congratulations to you for bringing Shlomo back (sarcasm alert).

Opponents of this movement are no less pathetic. They claim that we should still sing Shlomo’s music because hey he isn’t here to defend himself (as if singing other people’s tune is a mortal attack), or because well, he did so much good also, spreading love around and about, and so how can we let a little thing like humping young girls ruin it all.

Both of these groups haven’t got the message yet. Shlomo is dead.

Thats right. To the first group, the newly moral outraged I announce: Shlomo is dead. He’s dead and you trying to do now what should have been done fifty years ago; cant make anyuthing that happened in the interim go away.

When Shlomo was alive; it was actually possible to boycott him; by not buying his music, not attending his concerts. Of course some people did do just that , particularly the ultra orthodox. But since they didn't actually name why, just hiding behind vague terms like “tznius”, they did little to prevent his popularization amongst those of us who aren’t part of the tznius police. It’s unfortunate. Not popularizing his music would have meant reducing his fame, and according him less access by which to abuse. In other words, it could have actually accomplished something.

But now? Boycotting a tune that just happens to have been composed by him, decades after his death??? Come on folks. Not even the women he abused have requested that. What they want is to be heard and respected.  So tell me how that is any more than an act of moral masturbation, that makes you feel good but doesn’t actually engage you with anyone outside yourselves. Sure, it makes you fell that you are better that yenem, but all it is is making a point for the sake of a point.  And even we agree that it is a good point, well that still gives you no authority to determine that there is a wrong way and a right way to pray and yours is the right way so everyone else better  get with the flow or else they are an enabler of sexual misconduct.

Now to the second group, the pro-Shlomos: When i say shlomo is dead; i don’t mean it like you do- to make him some sort of poor helpless victim. Actually if he’s dead then by definition he’s not a victim. He’s in the Olam HaEmes (sic),  beyond anything we can do to him. Safe from ever being prosecuted. Safe from ever being sued. He sure escaped it big by dying when he did, still surrounded by adulation.  So stop sticking up for him; Lord knows y’all did that quite well enough when he was down here.

Most importantly; stop trying to keep a dead man alive. Stop the yahrtzeits, the memorials, and the tzadik stories (although you can and should introduce an element of critical analysis). You can’t blame people for attacking the dead, when you are the ones keeping him alive. You can’t blame people from getting put off from a beautiful melody when you are the ones continually tying it in the public consciousness to its creepy composer.  

All of you now. Think of other tunes that you sing in shul (if you remember any that is).  Do you or anyone else know or care who the composer is? Me neither. Those melodies are surviving on their own merit, not on a personality cult. Do you really think Shlomo’s music was any good? Go ahead, give it a chance to survive on its own. Stop connecting it to its very imperfect composer. The good tunes will survive on their own merit; they will continue to energize, comfort, and inspire. The ones that are catching a ride on his  reputation… will die along with him. Written Originally a year ago, in the midst of a Shlomo furor. Since the furor died, I decided to let it die and not prepare this for publication. Let them.