Background
Carlebach was born in Leipzig, Germany to Rabbi Moshe Carlebach, a son of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, the av beit din (head of the rabbinical court) of Lübeck, Germany.
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Naftoli Carlebach
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Subsequently, he 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, Carlebach was ordained as a rabbi by the heads of the Telz and Mir yeshivas. He also received rabbinical ordination from Rabbi Simcha Zelig, the posek of Brest, Belarus.
In the year preceding World World War II, he narrowly escaped the horrors of the Holocaust through the aid of Rabbi Naftoli Neuberger, the principal of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore, who sent him an entry visa.
Following his wedding, Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, rosh yeshiva of Ner Israel, encouraged Rabbi Carlebach to accept the rabbinate at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Two years later, they moved to Detroit, where he worked in Jewish education, teaching at the Yeshiva Beth Yehudah and in the rabbinate.
He was instrumental in bringing out key rabbinic personnel to Detroit, such as Rabbi Leib Bakst. He once had the privilege of hosting Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, rosh yeshivas Mir in Poland and Jerusalem.
He made aliyah to Israel in 1979 and spent time learning Torah in Yeshivas Mir, Yeshivas Kamenitz and near his home until his death.
Rabbi Aryeh Finkel, the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Mir in Brachfeld, Rabbi Yitzchok Ezrachi, a son-in-law of Rabbi Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz, and others eulogized. One grandson, Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Carlebach, authored a critical analysis of the Vilna Gaon"s mathematical work.
