Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s music is present in worship and at Jewish celebrations all over the world. He is one of the most influential Jewish musicians of all time and continues to be an inspiration 23 years after his death.
Reb Shlomo’s daughter Neshama Carlebach continues to share his message as she performs his music and her own at venues worldwide.
Neshama, the original “Soul Daughter,” has been through her fair share of struggle and success since her father passed away suddenly in 1994. At the age of 20, exactly 31 days after Reb Shlomo died, Neshama was on the road, singing in his name on a tour that he had booked.
“In my mind, I was replacing the most beautiful, important person that ever lived,” she said. “It was a really painful time for me.”
This tour marked the beginning of Neshama’s own whirlwind career. She is one of the only Jewish artists to have sold more than a million records, and was also a six-time entrant in the Grammy Awards and toured the world consistently.
“I didn’t stop when I got married or when I had my two children,” she said. “I nursed through a concert once. At one show, I was nine months and two weeks pregnant, and I was having contractions while I was on stage. I loved my work but also didn’t know how to stop.”
Neshama didn’t break from her busy schedule until 2012 when she got divorced. “’My whole world came crashing down,” she said. “I realized that I didn’t know who I was, that I didn’t really understand myself. After my divorce, I know I mourned my father for the first time.”
So began a period of introspection and finding herself. From 2012 to 2016, she performed rarely and took time off to discover her place in the world and get in touch with her feelings. “I was falling apart completely, and then this moment was a rebirth for me,” she said.
