Re: Jewish music performance series

[Rachel Heckert <heckertkrs...>]

Eliezer,

It's true that men are not allowed to hear women sing except for close
relations, i.e. husband, father, son, brother, etc., but a woman
instrumentalist is quite all right. I know this from personal experience,
playing flute but not singing when men are present.  The only problem
would be the woman being too visible to an audience including males, so
some women would prefer to perform behind a small screen, which prevents
them from being stared at while not interfering with the music.  

As for mixed choirs - they're definitely out.  In fact, the only group I
know of that has even a male choir is the German-Jewish community in
Washington Heights.  For the rest of us the idea of a choir is too close
to the practice of other religions, and in any case most congregation
would rather "do it themselves," even if everybody isn't always in the
same key (Or any key at all.  My ex-husband used to claim that he sang so
badly at the Shabbos table because you're not allowed to carry [a tune]
on Shabbos.)

Thanks for your understanding and thoughtful response.  Not everybody
stops to think that different practices may make sense to the people
doing them!  Most Orthodox women do not think of these things as
"discrimination," but rather as being protected from unwelcome attention.
 (Any woman who's walked past a construction site in New York City will
know what I'm talking about  :-)

Regards,

Rachel Heckert

 so long as she is not >them on (kol ba-isha ervah). So women's voices
were banned from the 
>ears of
>men. Silly? In the context of modern times, probably. Offensive? Not 
>if you
>think about it. To compound the problem, once a custom is established 
>in the
>Orthodox Ashkenazic community it usually takes on the intensity of a 
>law.
>I'm guessing (operational phrase: guessing) that a shul which would 
>not have
>a problem with women instrumentalists performing would also not have 
>a
>problem with a mixed choir, provided there were no passages which were 
>sung
>only by women.

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