UNBELIEVABLE: Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s Home In Mevo Modi’im Destroyed In The Fire – His Seforim Were Unscathed!

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moshav Mevo Modi’im
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On Sunday, residents of Mevo Modi’im visited the ruins of the devastated community for the first time since the catasttrophic fire burned through most of the small moshav.

To the residents surprise, upon inspecting the the ruins of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s private residence they discovered that most of library survived the conflagration. Boxes of highly flammable seforim were sitting untouched in middle of all the ruins and wrech=kage left by the fire.

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach began the moshav in 1975 with some of his closest followers. The moshav grew and in 2017 a census showed that the population had reached 285 residents. Currently the entire community is being hosted by neighboring communities, families and friends, with hopes of rebuilding the unique community in the near future.


8 COMMENTS

  1. WOW WOW WOW. What a neys!! Who knows how many yidden he saved with the teachings in those holy sfurim! Maybe that’s why they were not burned!

  2. Heartbreaking, such destruction. But a little pach shemen tahor, btzar hirchavta li – a small light in the darkness to have such a miracle like that. HaShem should help them rebuild!

  3. We have heard in the past about the great fire of London or Prague that destroyed most of the town. In our age, who could even imagine a whole village being destroyed by a fire. Moshav Meor Modiin was on Lag B Omer destroyed by a Fire

    Can you imagine going out in the morning, and losing not only your house, all your possessions, heirlooms, memories, photos, diaries and in this case art, music, musical instruments, studios and businesses, and Village The survivors of this fire have been left with literally the clothes that they were wearing.

    But this was no ordinary Moshav or ordinary people. The people here (known as “the Chevra”) are the followers of the singing Rabbi, Reb Shlomo Carlebach. They were the hippies from the House of Love of prayer who came in 1976 to this barren, unwanted land in what was then in the middle of nowhere.

    They together with Reb Shlomo turned the Moshav into an oasis of love, music, nature, Shabbat and Ahavat Yisrael from hosting Shabbat Retreats, program’s, music and in the last ten years the Moshav Festival on Pesach and Sukkot. It would not be an exaggeration to say that hundreds of thousands of people have attended events over the last 40 years at the Moshav, and for many, this was the first or most inspired taste of a Judaism filled with Joy and Love.

    Although Reb Shlomo was primally known as the Singing Rabbi, he was a powerful storyteller relating Hassidic stories. I am sure that there will be many stories resulting from this tragedy, miracles, stories of hope, stories of the overcoming adversity, stories of rebuilding, unity, chesed and compassion.

    Reb Shlomo Stories are very profound, One such book being Lamed Vav: A Collection of the Favorite Stories of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (available on Amazon/ Pomeranz Books in Jerusalem) . and see http://www.Souldoctorstories.com where there are some inspirational stories and background on Reb Shlomo.

    In any event, I now going to relate my story about the Moshav which happened last week. Like all Hassidic stories, you can either choose to believe or choose to disbelieve. So, here is my story.

    The Moshav has a building called the Shlomo Center which housed thousands of Reb Shlomo books and other memorabilia, and my concern was the loss of this National Treasury. I thought, there would be no way that this could have survived.

    Anyway, Last Sunday, in a phone smooze with Alon Teeger, Chairman of the Carlebach Foundation and Senior Member of the Moshav Vaad – Council.

    We were discussing what was happening with the Moshav. He excitedly told me that they had a got a donation, to build a proper roof over the Shul and they would be able to take the Tent cover and put it by the Shlomo Center to help entertain groups coming to the Moshav. The also got funds for a small coffee shop which would assist and welcome visitors to the Moshav.

    So, after the Fire, I was sure that the Fire had destroyed both the Shul and Center. On Friday, Alon posted on What’s App.

    “I was on the Moshav this morning with the Moetza It looks like a war zone. Shul and Shlomo Center intact plus 5 out of 60 houses. All the rest destroyed. All residents and animals were evacuated in time.

    Thousands of Reb Shlomo’s books saved in the centre. Not sure about the other books in the Carlebach home as we weren’t permitted to enter any migrashim because of fires still burning and electrical and water infrastructure damage.” (Update – some of the Books in the Reb Shlomo Home were saved)

    Photo below showing the Shul with some trees untouched. The Shlomo Center is near the green patch at the beginning of the Moshav.

    I have no doubt that the Center and The Shul was miraculously saved. Maybe in the merit of that phone call. maybe in the merit of Reb Shlomo, or the pure desire to spread Reb Shlomo’s deep teachings. As Reb Shlomo would often say. You never know. you never know.

    I immediately called Alon who surprisingly answered and he related a few more anecdotes. Especially about the miracle that no one died, and that they had 10 minutes to evacuate. He kept repeating that if one person had died it would a different level of disaster.

    While trying to put a positive spin, Alon who is his late 60s, told me from now on he is going travel light. At least his kids cannot argue about the candlesticks. I am sure there will be much heartbreak on the road to recovery, picking up the pieces in each person, family and the Chevra of the Moshav. The road will be bumpy. But the Moshav Chevra have Strength, Faith inspired by their Teacher Reb Shlomo.

    I want to end off with a post of Facebook by Sivan Rachav Meir

    Most of the homes in Moshav Mevo Modi’in (“The Moshav”) were destroyed by fire yesterday. This is a community that was established by disciples of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, most of them Americans. It’s a community of prayer, joy, dancing, and creativity. A place full of spirit – which went up in flames. This morning, when I opened the book “Simply Love” by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach – this is what I found:

    “Rebbe Nachman of Breslov said: ‘If you believe that it’s possible to destroy, believe that it’s possible to repair.’ They say that all it takes is one idiot with a match to burn down an entire forest. In other words, the force of destruction is quick, strong, overwhelming. A single bad word or deed has the power to destroy many years of effort and hard work. But Rabbi Nachman points out: This idea is very old. The new, better way is to believe that with one good word, a single small deed or even one thought, a person can rebuild the entire world. Therefore, Rabbi Nachman uses the word ‘Believe.’ If a person says to his friend: ‘Believe me, I just went to synagogue, and it’s in exactly the same place it was yesterday’ – it would sound strange. For things that are simple, things that are easy to understand, people don’t need faith. In order to believe in destruction, you don’t have to be a big ‘believer,’ that’s just human nature. But believing in the power of fixing, that rebuilds – that is what we need to work at. To believe in what the mind can’t easily grasp: that the power of fixing is greater, more meaningful. Most of the righteous, our tsaddikim, taught us not to burn down the forest. This is true, but Rabbi Nachman teaches us something new: You can plant forests! The power to rebuild is greater than the power of destruction. That is what faith is. “

    Dedicated to the dear and believing people of Mevo Modiin

    Rebuilding Mevo Modii

    Want to help? The local authority, Moetza Azorit Hevel Modiim, is working with a non-profit organization to collect funds for residents of Mevo Modiim.

    Donations in Israel: “Residents for Residents”

    Bank Leumi (10)

    Branch Yehud Monoson (837)

    Acct. (2227840)

    Please share this message by all means and Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CarlebachCenter where we will be posting more updates.

  4. It is not true to say that his seforim were unscathed, because, 1) in the beginning of the video we see books that were burned/destroyed, and 2) even those that were saved were damaged.

    So don’t get too nispoel.

  5. Been there-done that
    From the looks of the sforim I hate to say but even though thelook unscathed, they certainly look smoke -dammage and will require g’niza just like my 72 boxes sforim did. The odor can’t be removed and they’ll stink up home or bais hamedresh- sorry R’L.

  6. Everyone knew Rav Shloime was a very avid Seforim collector. Booksellers told me he would spend hours in stores and leave with a stack of Seforim. When I heard that Rav Shloime’s books were sitting unused on the Moshav I tried to see if he would donate them to our new Torani library in Yerushalayim where they would get much more use. I met Rav Shloime (I think in 1985) in the lobby of the Rennaisance Hotel in Yerushalayim but when I made the suggestion he only smiled. Later after he passed away I was told the Seforim were sitting in a caravan. For many years I wondered what happened to the Seforim. Maybe it is not too late.

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