Re: Jewish music performance series

[Eliezer Kaplan <zelwel...>]

Thanks Rachel. I'd probably disagree with what you're saying about the mixed
choir, though. The problem there would not be Kol Isha so much as lack of
interest. I've never heard of any objection to women singing along in shul,
but then again coming from a 'modern Orthodox' background I haven't hung out
much with the black hat set, so I can't accurately report on how they feel
on the subject.
                                    EK


----- Original Message -----
From: Rachel Heckert <heckertkrs (at) juno(dot)com>
To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Friday, September 24, 1999 12:33 AM
Subject: Re: Jewish music performance series


> 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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