Re: Kol Isha becomes a reality

[Eliott Kahn <Elkahn...>]

>  The fact that you are not sure that Kol Isha is such a 
>crucial factor here is not relevant. Not because it is not an issue worth 
>discussing, at length even,  but because the people in question, the 
>customers, obviously think it is an important and respectable issue. So what 
>is really involved here is the fact that a gig got cancelled. While I am 
>sympathetic to the loss of income, I must also say that It is onre of those 
>loust things that are common in our business. While it may seem unfair to you 
>to base a cancellation on something you think is wrong, it is just as werong 
>in the customers mind for a guest not to attend over this issue. If they have 
>to choose between family and vendor, they will choose family. 

Jordan, while I always have the profoundest respect for your halachic beliefs, 
I don't believe your argument here holds much water. Yes, a gig got 
canceled--solely on the basis of a person's gender. No, you are not sympathetic 
to this woman's loss of income, otherwise you would protest against said 
discrimination. And, no, the customers neither think it an "important and 
respectable issue" nor "just as wrong ... for a guest not to attend over the 
issue," but, rather, were blackmailed by one person--the brother-in-law--at an 
inconvenience to a large majority of the people--if Shirona's report is 
accurate.

The reasons for "Kol isha" might have had a purpose in an earlier time when 
women weren't dependent on their own livelihoods. For better or worse, this is 
the reality of the present day.  While I respect your adherence to a religious 
law while it is still binding, I hope you'll agree that those of us who find it 
reprehensible should agitate as much as we can to get it changed. And I'm 
sure--with enough pressure--it will be changed within the next few years.

I do hope Shirona takes these people to small claims court. If they had any 
sense of justice or fairness--or courage--, they would have asked the aggrieved 
brother-in-law to stay home.

Eliott Kahn

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