Carlebach

I was talking to a friend of mine over Shabbos, and the subject of Carlebach came up. The minyan he goes to on Friday nights decided to have a Carlebach davening this week, and didn't tell anyone. They found out when Kabbolas Shabbos started. A bunch of guys were upset, as that meant davening would take significantly longer than usual. My friend, who is not the biggest Carlebach fan in the world (that's an understatement), said if they want to do the davening, fine - just let people know in advance.

I just wanted to bring up a point about Carlebach. For some reason, he has achieved a cult following, and I just don't see why. Yes, he had a lot of qualities we should try to emulate, and there are things we can learn from him. However, that doesn't take away from what he really was: a horny guy who grabbed as many women as he could, blatantly violated halachah and tried to defend his actions with some nonsensical argument, was accused of molesting underage girls, and was just basically a hippie. We should learn about loving your fellow Jew from him? Big deal, all hippies were into the love and peace thing. What should our kids learn from him? That it's ok to hug and kiss strange women if you know how to sing?
My friend told me someone asked him why they did a Carlebach davening this Shabbos. He replied that since in the Parshah we had the story of Paroah, they did the Carlebach davening. The Parshah deals with someone who lusted after strange women, and so did Carlebach. I thought it was a great answer.

Just to note, if you want to read all about the "great" Carlebach's activities that you don't hear about, read this.