I was in New York for two weeks to distribute the album “Shurin
Presents Purim with Shlomo Carlebach,” and B’H I gave more than
1,500 out to the public. In Benny’s Famous Pizza on 13th Avenue, I saw
the famous artist Raphael Nouril and I gave him the Shlomo disc. The artist
said that he would tell me a story about Shlomo that no one knows.
He said, “After a Purim concert in England, Shlomo asked my son,
Ronen, to accompany him to an important meeting.
Shlomo told Ronen that he was asked to play guitar for the Crown Prince of
Ethiopia, who had fled for his life from a rebellion and was now living in
exile in England. And Shlomo didn’t know exactly what the Prince
wanted. When he got to the fancy hotel room of the Prince and strummed a
quick ‘Borchi Nafshi,’ the Crown Prince began to cry and said,
‘Two thousand years ago your king, Solomon, blessed the land of the
Queen of Sheba, my grandmother, and this was followed by years of great
prosperity. I have been exiled from that very land, and all my royal family
have been imprisoned.
I have been told that you are a grandson of King Solomon, that you are a
holy man, and that you are called by his name, Shlomo. So I am asking you to
please bless me that my royal family should be released from
prison.’
Shlomo gave a cry out to Above, strummed his tune ‘Motsi
Asirim,’ and kissed the Prince on his head just below his crown. He
gave him a blessing and left England that night.
Two weeks later, Ronen, the famous artist’s son, received word that
in fact the royal family members were released from prison!”
This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 18 March, 2008.
