Re: Three Weeks

[Joe Kurland <ganeydn...>]

I find this whole topic of great interest.  Although not orthodox, I am
observant in a way that I find myself continously defining and refining.

Until now, I have avoided performing publicly on Shabbos, and have not
performed during the three weeks.  We tend to schedule our band vacations
during the 3 weeks since before this year, no one has asked us to perform
for weddings during that time.  With more attention focused on our band,
and our interest in developing our audience we've had some discussions
about whether to keep within those limits.

We do perform on Shabbos for bar mitzves and other events that are ways,
although not orthodox, of celebrating and enhancing Shabbos.  I'm torn
between doing that and spending Shabbos resting with my family and going to
shul, but if it's an event at which no one need pay money to enter, such as
a musical shabbos service, and helps people feel connected with their
Yiddishkeyt, as by having Jewish music, particularly Jewish music that
expresses Jewish values, at a bar or bas mitzve rather than a DJ with the
macarena, I feel good about doing it.  I let the synagogue's interpretation
of halakha guide what is appropriate for such an affair.

I was not expecting to see permission to play during the 3 weeks, but
reflecting on what Alex wrote:

>
>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.

And that makes a lot of sense in that the Rabbis have always been
compassionate about what people have to do to earn a living, and also about
the demands of conflicting mitzves.

This year we were asked to perform at an multicultural festival celebrating
diversity in my community (Franklin County, Massachusetts) and presenting
arts and music that teach tolerance and racial harmony.  To perform at such
an event is a mitzve.  Last year it wasn't held during the three weeks, but
this year it is.  Those of us who won't be out of town have accepted.  I
wasn't so sure about doing it, but the mitzve of helping build peace in the
community and the world, of helping educate people about Jewish tradition
tipped the balance.  I'm also glad to hear that Jewish law leans that
direction as well.  I'd be very interested in seeing the halakhic sources
of the discussion.

Now, Ari writes:
>
>There is no challenge here (except to yourself, and I look
>forward to hearing what you are doing), so there is no reason
>I can think of why people would be modifying their behavior
>in this instance.
>
>I do wonder, however, whether there are specific gigs that
>Jewish musicians would not, in general, take. There are
>obvious ones--I think even the least religious among us would
>be unable to play a Yom Kippur bar mitzvah (despite the
>wonderfully oxymoronic conception of such of thing), but
>what are the limits that being a Jewish musician plays
>on where or when one accepts gigs.
>

This reminds me of an incident that happened to me about 12 or so years
ago.  We had as the trombonist in our band a peace activist who wasn't
Jewish.  Once, there was going to be a benefit performance for a group, the
Veterans for Life, who were fasting in protest of the U.S. policy of waging
covert war in Nicaragua and El Salvador.  Court, the trombonist,
volunteered the band to perform at the benefit, although he would be out of
town that night, but knowing that we were all committed to the peace
movement, he knew we would accept.

What he didn't know was that it was scheduled for the second night of Rosh
Hashana.  So what did we do?  We could not perform our usual blend of
Yiddish social justice and peace songs and dance music, so we showed up and
conducted a Shofar service.  We sang prayers in Hebrew with accordion
accompaniment and recited English translations, blowing Shofar and calling
on the people of our country to repent of the sins of violence we were
allowing to be perpetrated in our names, and sang prayers for peace.

Everything in the service came directly from the Makhzor.  It was so
appropriate that nothing had to be added or modified to fit the message of
the evening.  The only Jews in the audience came up to me and said that
they hadn't ever been moved so by a Jewish service and hadn't set foot in a
synagogue 30 years, but felt a need, after this experience, to reconnect.
Those in the audience who were not Jewish expressed great appreciation for
what we had done, and we felt that we had performed a mitzve in a way that
would have been impossible by either playing our regular music (G-d forbid)
or sitting this one out.

Yosl (Joe) Kurland
The Wholesale Klezmer Band
Colrain, MA 01340
voice/fax: 413-624-3204