Re: Welcome to the Three Weeks

[Seth Rogovoy <rogovoy...>]

This is fascinating stuff, Alex, really. But what I wonder is, next week
the "In the Fiddler's House" tour with Perlman and the four Klezmer groups
is coming to Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass., among other venues, i think.
without naming any names, it's common knowledge
that some of the players (or at least ONE) in these groups are
Torah-observant, and based on what you are saying, therefore probably
would/should NOT be performing. or is the key word here "in the Jewish
community," as you say?

On Tue, 22 Jul 1997, Alex Jacobowitz wrote:

> B"H Luzern, Switzerland
> 
> As many of you know, today, the 17th of Tammuz, begins the three week
> mourning period
> marking the anniversary of the destruction of Temples I and II. Today marks
> the beginning
> of the siege of Jerusalem, and is a fast day, just as the Ninth of Av,
> which marks the Churban
> (destruction) itself is a fast day. 
> 
> Festive events in the Jewish community are scheduled not to fall during
> these three weeks,
> and it is forbidden to listen to music, which is considered to 'gladden the
> soul'.
> 
> But what about Jewish musicians, whose living depends on making music? Are
> they to
> starve during these three weeks?
> 
> The Rabbis say no, that PLAYING music is allowed for reasons of 'parnassa'
> (livelihood),
> but that the ban on LISTENING to music applies to everyone else. This means
> that musicians
> should not listen to music for PLEASURE during these three weeks, but are
> allowed to play
> professionally, but the general (Jewish) public should not hear music at
> all.
> 
> Therefore, if Jews are in a Jewish musician's audience, we have a dilemma -
> to play or not to play?
> The musician is allowed -- virtually MUST -- play,  while the (Jewish)
> audience is obligated not to hear it.
> What to do? 
> 
> If there are Jews in the audience who have either forgotten about the ban,
> or who
> are likely to follow the ban once advised of it, then the Jewish musician
> should remind them
> of the obligations during the three weeks. If the Jews in the audience are
> likely to IGNORE
> the ban on listening to music, then it is forbidden for the musician to
> tell them about the ban 
> in the first place, since it is considered better to sin without knowledge
> than to sin with knowledge.
> 
> Shalom u'vracha,
> 
> Alex Jacobowitz
> 

****************************************
Seth Rogovoy                        
rogovoy (at) berkshire(dot)net
http://www.berkshireweb.com/rogovoy
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