Naftoli Carlebach

Rabbi Naftoli Carlebach (1916–2005) was an Orthodox Jew who served as a Rabbi and eventually a professional.

Naftoli was born in Leipzig, Germany to Rabbi Moshe Carlebach, a son of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, the Av Beit Din of Lübeck, Germany. His maternal grandfather was Rabbi Yosef Cohen, the Av Beit Din of Eschwege, Germany.

In 1933, Naftoli was sent to study Torah at the Telz Yeshiva in Lithuania, where he forged a relationship with Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch (brother of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Bloch). Subsequently, Naftoli transferred to Yeshivas Mir, where he developed a special connection to Rabbi Yeruchom Levovitz, the Mashgiach there, prior to the latter's death.

In 1938, Naftoli was ordained as a rabbi by the heads of Telz and Mir yeshivas. He also received rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Simcha Zelig, the posek of Brest, Belarus. In the year preceding World War II, Naftoli narrowly escaped the horrors of the Holocaust through the help of Rabbi Naftoli Neuberger, the Menahel of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore. There Naftoli wed his wife, Gittel Gutman, who had also come from Germany. Following his wedding, Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Israel, encouraged Rabbi Naftoli to accept the rabbinate at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

Two years later, they moved to Detroit, where he worked in education and in the rabbinate. He once had the privilege of hosting Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, rosh yeshivas Mir in Poland and Jerusalem. Here, Naftoli studied with his childhood friend Rabbi Leib Bakst, the late rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Detroit. Other study partners of Rabbi Naftoli include the late Rabbi Simcha Wasserman, the son of Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman. Finally, Rabbi Naftoli forfeited his positions in Detroit in deference to his older uncle and instead worked as a professional. In doing so, he moved to Boro Park, Brooklyn and established the "Mir Minyan" there (located in Yeshivas Be'er Shmuel on 12th Ave.).

Eventually, he made aliyah to Israel in 1979 and there he spent time learning Torah in Yeshivas Mir, Yeshivas Kamenitz and near his home until his passing away. Rabbi Aryeh Finkel, the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Mir in Brachfeld, Rabbi Yitzchok Ezrachi, a son-in-law of Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz and others eulogized.

HaRav Naftoli Carlebach was survived by his wife; his sons Rabbi Moshe Carlebach of Jerusalem (father of the author of the critically acclaimed "Chavatzeles HaSharon"), Rabbi Doniel Yeruchom of Brooklyn, Rabbi Binyomin Carlebach of Jerusalem (a Rosh Yeshiva of Mir there and son-in-law of Rabbi Beinish Finkel), and Rabbi Shlomo Ze'ev Carlebach; his daughter, the wife of Rabbi Gedaliah Finkel of Jerusalem; his sister Mrs. Halberstadt of Brooklyn; and his grandsons and great- grandsons, all following the path of Torah. (One grandson, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Carelbach, authored a critical analysis of the Vilna Gaon's mathematical work.) His son-in-law, Rabbi Gedaliah Finkel, is the brother of the Mirrer Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel.

Sources

• Deiah V'Dibbur

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Name	Carlebach, Naftoli
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Date of birth	1916
Place of birth
Date of death	2005
Place of death