Confronting Darkness

Shaul Magid reviews the new Carlebach movie. 

The question of how to deal with this is not an easy one, with assumptions on both sides.

Some dismiss the negative, while others minimize it. On the other hand, some demand wholesale erasure of his music and Torah. Almost all do so self-righteously, with certitude.

Personally, I think a middle ground between these positions, where he deserves an asterisk to his career, as it were, is the most appropriate. No featuring a "Carlebach Minyan", but a "ruach minyan" that uses some of his songs would be fine. Ideally, it should include a wider range of nigunim apart from his compositions. Public discussion of him should not be purely hagiographic, but should include reference to his darker side. He doesn't deserve a pedestal, but his work was significant enough, and absorbed so integrally into the musical DNA of contemporary Judaism, that it has transcended its composer.

And, may we do better in addressing these issues within the community.