Re: Kol Ishah again

[TROMBAEDU <TROMBAEDU...>]

In a message dated 3/8/00 7:26:28 AM Eastern Standard Time, media (at) 
kamea(dot)com 
writes:

<< Hi Bob:
 
 "Ironic" indeed;  and "absurd".
 
 Interesting to note that even in Iran, a woman is
 allowed to sing on stage (again), --after a long prohibition
 under the ayatollahs.
 
 It is high time the medieval injunction against =kol isha=
 be discredited and abandoned.
  >>

It is high time that arrogant proclamations by those who have no investment 
in Halachik Judaism come to an end, and allow the Halacha process to evolve 
as best as possible. I personally follow a more lenient approach to Kol Isha, 
 as Wolf and the members of this list know, and I am sympathetic to those 
whose performance opportunities are limited by adherence to more stringent 
interpretations. 
But I have no sympathy for those who knowingly ask for this rebuff, allowing 
them to once again decry the medieval nature of Halacha, as if a social 
injustice has been commited, rather then an expression of a specific concept 
of the modesty of women, which, whether one takes a more stringent view of 
Halacha or less, is in fact a fundamental `part of Torah practice. And I 
cannot countenance a back of the hand dismissal of Halcha and Torah, as if 
the subjective views of any individual on this list should automatically be 
allowed to invalidate a tradition which has taken shape over many centuries, 
and is based on a system of Jewish Jurisprudence which according to Halachik 
Jews dates back to the Torah. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I 
find such dismissals of Halacha, even in cases where in practice I agree, 
hurtful and offensive.
Anyone may choose not to observe Torah the way I deem appropriate. If you are 
made uncomfortable by Kol Isha, don't observe it; that is between you and 
God. But do not give yourself the right to declare it discredited for all. 
That is a power you are unqualified to wield.

Jordan Hirsch
   

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+