Rabbi Joseph Carlebach (1883-1942)

Carlebach – the Amateur Photographer

Without bow and arrow, but always with cigar, camera and notepaper

1938-39, Carlebach – Rabbi of the Jewish prisoners

He always arrived at the prison with a Havana cigar and a sandwich with sausage in hand for the warden, so that he will open the cells of the Jewish prisoners

Carlebach’s “Bon Mots”

• What did you mean that I meant?
• Who is right? I am. Who is wrong? My wife
• A young non-orthodox man, Mr. H., asked Carlebach to perform his wedding ceremony. Carlebach agreed under one condition: That the young man should come to the synagogue every Shabbat, only until the date of the marriage. Our bridegroom answered: “OK”, but he did not keep his promise, trying to avoid meeting the Rabbi. But one day they met accidently in the street and Carlebach called: “Oh, I am so happy to meet you, because every time I meet you I am thinking of God…”
H.: “But Rabbi, why?”
Carlebach: “Because we never see Him either…”