Kol Isha

[meydele <meydele...>]

There are certain beliefs which I can respect, although I do not agree with 
them, and there are 
others which I profoundly reject on every level, intellectual and emotional.  
The utter 
objectification (sorry about the feminist terminology - it fits here!) of all 
women and the 
extraordinarily demeaning and anti-socialized view of men underlying the 
principle of kol isha 
as practiced in certain portions of the orthodox Jewish community is highly 
offensive.  Jews who 
are kosher are forbidden to eat pork.  Does that mean that a kosher Jew who 
walks by a barbecue 
restaurant will be driven wild by the smell of barbecuing pork ribs and turn 
into a ravenous 
wild beast who will be compelled to eat pork?  Do the rabbis require the kosher 
to avoid the 
smell of pork, fearing their baser instincts will overwhelm their principles?  
In their most 
extreme manifestations, religious strictures which restrict women because men 
are perceived as 
(potentially) uncontrolled beasts are part of a way of looking at things which, 
I believe,  
engenders a frighteningly repressed society which tacitly condones certain 
forms of violence to 
those outside its protective folds.

>From the perspective of this list, the principle of kol isha is antithetical 
>to what I perceive 
to be the underlying principle of this list: an interest in and desire to learn 
about and 
disseminate all forms of Jewish music.  We are an inclusive bunch.  I would not 
object to a list 
gathering which is held at a kosher restaurant because I do not want to exclude 
any members who 
are kosher, even though the issue is irrelevant to me personally. The principle 
of kol isha 
excludes a substantial portion of this list from performing and prevents the 
observant from 
studying or learning about an important aspect of Jewish music.  I am 
personally angry about the 
lost performance opportunities for women and want to support in any way 
possible the efforts 
within the observant community to change this restriction.  I feel differently 
about this 
restriction than I would as an ethnomusicologist studying some group to which I 
am not related.  
I am a Jew, and I have an interest in how Jewish beliefs shape Jewish society - 
all aspects of 
Jewish society. Simply acquiescing to the limitations of the more vocal in a 
group because we 
must "respect" their beliefs is not a way to effect change.  I realize the 
purpose of the 
planned musical series is to publicize and create support of an ailing shul, 
and controversy is 
not always recognized as an effective way to gather support.  But it can be.  I 
urge the 
original poster (enshuldik mir, I have forgotten who it was...) to foster 
discussion within the 
shul on just this issue.

Shira Lerner

Shira Lerner

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