For one of the most polarizing figures in modern Jewish history, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach did a lot of loving. "The Singing Rabbi," who founded the House of Love and Prayer in San Francisco, regularly hugged the homeless, supported the poor, and called everyone "brother" or "sister." And on those rare days when he was home — and not in some remote pocket of the world performing music and teaching rudimentary Judaism — he let his daughter Neshama play hooky.

"When I was growing up, my father would say to me, ‘It’s a beautiful day today, don’t go to school. If you’re not being moved by what you’re learning it’s not worth your time,’" said Neshama Carlebach, who herself embarked on a successful music career.

"I definitely skipped my share of days because I had the opportunity. He was only home once a month, but still."

The difficulty with Shlomo Carlebach’s life, however, lies in his unorthodox Orthodoxy. Though he died almost 14 years ago, Carlebach’s legacy remains controversial. A learned and devoted rabbi, Carlebach was famously derided for hugging and kissing women, entering churches, and keeping company with hippies and Moonies. Carlebach’s life and music are finally getting a full treatment — the good, the bad, and the contested will all be on display in "Shlomo," a musical opening at the Edmund J. Safra Hall at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City. Playwright Daniel Wise (producer of the world tour of "Rent") and lyricist David Schechter (who wrote and directed "Hannah Senesh") teamed with Neshama Carlebach to produce the play, whose soundtrack is composed of her father’s melodies.

Performances begin on April 22 and continue through May 9. Tickets and schedule information are available at shlomomusical.com, ticketcentral.com, and by phone at (212) 279-4200.

"We were enthralled with the meteoric talent, the electrifying songs, and the origins of someone who came about in Hitler’s Germany and lived in contradiction, and was interested in bringing unity to a fragmented nation that was in crisis," said Wise, who knew Shlomo Carlebach for many years.

"It’s important for people to have someone like that to examine, and to look at what it would mean to actually live together and reconcile with each other," continued Wise. "Part of the irreconcilable part of his life is he lived in so many different worlds, and worlds that couldn’t really live with each other."

The first world Carlebach inhabited was far more buttoned-down than one might imagine. Born in Berlin in 1925 to "the most regimental of the Jewish cultures — the German Jews," as Wise said, Carlebach and his family moved to Switzerland and then New York before he returned to study in Lithuania as a 13-year-old. Later, he helped spur he development of the ultra-Orthodox community in Lakewood.

Then the first fissure: Carlebach broke from Ashkenazi tradition to join the Lubavitcher chasidim and become close with the Lubavitcher rebbe. Just as quickly, though, he left Lubavitch and set off on his own.

"He describes that part of his life as the wilderness experience," said Wise. "He wasn’t in heaven, he wasn’t in hell, he was sleeping in cars, he had nowhere to go. He felt he had his own path to reach."

The path he chose was music. With close ties to the folk movement — he counted Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell among his friends — and the Gospel tradition, Carlebach began traversing the world in search of lost souls, people in a wilderness of their own.

David Rossmer. who played on Broadway in "Fiddler on the Roof," will portray Carlebach in "Shlomo." His character, says Rossmer, who grew up in River Edge,"doesn’t understand why there has to be this internal struggle, this religious micromanaging, and all he wants to do is bring the good things that he finds in Judaism to people who will appreciate it."

"He finds it through song, and that joy was a huge part of the religion, and he brought a lot of people to Judaism."

Added Neshama Carlebach, who was 20 when her father died, "There’s no place in the world where people don’t coming to me bawling and crying that they miss him. People say to me, ‘I was 5 years old, he came to my school.’ People have memories from age 3, age 5, because [he was] this incredible magnetic human being...."

Still, the elder Carlebach remains so riveting in part because of how strongly certain sects of Orthodoxy object to his methods.

"He publicly hugged women, the House of Love and Prayer didn’t have a partition between men and women, and he gave a concert for the Moonies," said Wise. "Shlomo was disturbing because he was both a serious rabbi and a rock star."