[HANASHIR:8271] RE: Kol Isha

[LSalvay <LSalvay...>]

Hevrei (and not "chevre," which is "goat cheese" in French),

I've been following the Kol Isha discussion with interest, and while I too 
have taken some modicum of "offense" in the past at the fact that my singing 
voice is halachically off limits to half the Jewish population, the Kol Isah 
issue has been explained to me (by a female Lubavitcher Chasid who happens to 
be a very "with-it" woman and an exceptionally fine teacher) as follows:

The singing voice of a woman has the potential to arouse sexual responses in 
a man. Such arousal could cause the man to "spill seed," which is blatantly 
forbidden in the Torah. So, to avert the possibility of that halachic 
infraction, men are not to listen to a woman sing. 

Of course, women likewise can be sexually aroused by the singing voice of an 
attractive man -- but since they are not capable of "spilling seed," there is 
no reciprocal ban on women listening to a man sing.

To my understanding, this is the reasoning behind the strictures of Kol Isha. 
Yes, it is sexist, but doesn't seem to overtly fault or blame women for the 
situation -- if anything, it puts the onus on the male population for lack of 
ability to control their sexual urges.

While I don't necessarily like it, I understand where it's coming from -- and 
I simply choose to pursue my musical enterprises among more "liberal" Jewish 
groups for whom Kol Isha is not an issue. 

B'shalom v'shira,
Linda Salvay

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