Dear RabbiofBerlin Shlita,
I apologize for not posting earlier when this thread was first started. I did not do so because I could not think of a way to adequately express the gadlus of Reb Shlomo. What was greater his music or his stories, his ahavas yisroel or his gadlus in learning? His was a holy and rare neshama sent down to comfort and rejuvenate our devastated nation in the generation after the holocaust. He was probably the greatest thinker of the generation. In a sentence or two he would answer a velt of kashyas. His music was min hashamayim. There is no way a human could have written these niggunim. His love for all briyos knew no bounds. The mayselach about him in the book “Holy Brother” are even better than his music. I had occasion to be with him and saw first hand how much he cared for someone he didn’t even know.
How many people would be learning today if not for him? They or their parents or their Rebbeim probably owe their cheshek for learning to him. Even those who later became “frummer” than him owe their existence in yeshiva to him. He brought back yidden all over the world. He was the godol hador in ahavas yisroel and loved every Jew to the very core of his being.
Nobody listened to his music for entertainment. It was the outpouring of his ahavas Hashem, ahavas hatorah and ahavas yisroel that was what infected all these people at his concerts. He poured his whole neshama into his songs. There was no gimmickry, just pure dveikus. He enjoyed being accompanied by people of any background and musical style.
May he continue to inspire and uplift people until biyas moshiach tzidkeinu bimheirah byameinu amen.