Re: kol isha

[Robert Cohen <rlcm17...>]

My my!  (Or: Oy Vey!)  I'm catching up w/ zillions of old posts here--my 
apologies for this burst of short posts (well, this one won't be so short, 
though I intend it to be the last!)--and am rather discouraged at all of the 
excess that this subject has, again, aroused.

Including, of all things, repeated references to Small Claims Court suits 
and actions for sexual discrimination!  A little clarity, please (consider 
that said the way Jackie Gleason said one of his signature lines):

1) As I believe I already posted, Shirona's client's withdrawal of their 
offer of work almost certainly can *not* be adjudicated in Small Claims 
Court--and probably not anywhere else, either.  I don't say this w/ 
pleasure; in a dozen years plus of lecturing on Jewish music, I've had a 
couple of lecture-engagers cop out on me after verbally contracting with me, 
and I felt furious about it.  And I think it was unethical.  It is, 
unfortunately, not illegal, so far as I know.  (It's *not* the same as 
having someone perform for you and not paying them--which, of course, *is* 
adjudicable.)  I don't know whether or not it's contrary to halacha to so 
renege (on a verbal _or_ written contract, i.e.)--though one poster 
pronounced himself certain that it was.  (At least this wasn't the same 
person who advised that since there's disagreement among the sources on this 
issue [kol isha}, it ipso facto can't be part of Torah!)  It *might* be 
actionable if the artist could show that (s)he lost money specifically 
because of her commitment to this booking.

2) As for sexual discrimination--Please.  The organizers of a private party, 
which I understand this was (?), have the right to discriminate in any way 
they please--and they *should* have that right.  (Or should a gathering that 
specifically desires to--and does--hire a women musician or singer be 
subject to prosecution and penalty?  What about a simcha that insists on a 
_Jewish_ band?  Or a black simcha that wants a black entertainer?)

Laws forbidding discrimination are inherently problematic--though the very 
thought is now so politically incorrect as to be verboten--because they 
impinge, by means of governmental coercion--i.e., the threat of fine or 
imprisonment--on the rights of individuals to freely contract with others, 
and to choose whom to contract _with._   Our society made the 
decision--undoubtedly wisely--to abridge that freedom (which is 
Constitutional, by the way) in the case of public institutions and 
commerce--beginning, not at all randomly, with the case of black Americans, 
because the nation's history and legacy of slavery had _uniquely_ poisoned 
our national life in ways that needed to be addressed in drastic, structural 
ways.

One unhappy result of the history beginning with that necessary step--there 
have been other, happy results--has been the instantaneous recourse to 
lawsuits and threats of lawsuits in ways that have utterly compromised--and 
poisoned--hiring decisions, for example, in many venues.  (Ask anyone who 
hires people at a university.)

But so far as I know, *all* anti-discrimination legislation specifically 
exempts private parties.  If you own a house, live on one floor, and rent 
out the other floor, for example, you can choose not to rent to anyone, on 
any grounds.  And similarly in the case of this private party.  (Of course, 
as many have said, this entire matter was handled very badly by the family, 
which should have made clear from the beginning what they wanted or didn't 
want; and in some fashion made this up, at least partly, to the artist when 
they decided they didn't want her to perform.)

This discussion got off to a hyper start, unfortunately, because, I believe, 
of the overheated way it was introduced--in a fashion that admitted of no 
reality other than the poster's:  no other people, no other Jews, no other 
beliefs, no other interpretations of those beliefs, no other takes on those 
interpretations, no other ... anything.  Or anyone.  Just ME--who "hold[s] 
this truth to be self-evident"--in all caps, yet--which, of course, means 
that it *is* evident, right?  For whom "truth" is "simple"--*my* truth, and 
therefore yours, right?  For whom all positions but her own, evidently, can 
be questioned and challenged.  For whom this is a matter on which we can 
"all agree"--a red-light phrase that invariably signals that the poster 
doesn't, in fact, acknowledge a diversity of views among a diversity of 
individuals.  Or respect that diversity of views, or the individuals holding 
them.  Even (one of) the individuals whose private simcha this was!

Let me reiterate here:  I'm no defender of kol isha.  In fact, I'm highly 
impatient with all the accreted rigidity that surrounds its (rigid) 
application--and indeed wonder if it should be applicable at all.  I've 
taken the initiative of sharing with this list resources on kol isha that 
convey the subtlety and complexity--and, I believe, problematic 
character--that attends this issue--resources that have, gratifyingly, been 
alluded to (and even re-posted) by others.

I played Jewish (and other) women's music on my own radio show(s), o"h, 
beginning with my *first* YEDID NEFESH show, which had Debbie's "Sh'ma"--and 
whose theme song, for that matter, was recorded for me by a woman in my own 
chevra.  (I was, I believe, the first to broadcast many Jewish women's 
recordings--and, I believe, some women cantors as well.)  I've shared Jewish 
women's music with lecture audiences and classes for over a dozen years now, 
introducing folks to much of that music (and, of course, to other Jewish 
music as well) that they would otherwise perhaps never have heard.  (Indeed, 
I now do entire lecture programs on "Women in American-Jewish Music.")  And 
I've had the pleasure of hearing the music of Jewish women on this very 
list:  Basya (in person and on recording--I'm a fan, as she knows), Margot 
(ditto--very recently at Rabbi Berkowitz's l'kovod Shlomo [Carlebach] Purim 
thing; she plays with such expressive passion), Judith Cohen just a week 
ago--a wonderful recital, with her daughter.  (They both sing a wide range 
of repertoire just marvelously.)   In my very small way, I've played a small 
part in advancing Jewish women's music, and I celebrate what Jewish women 
have added to our garland of Jewish song.

But I do wish we could "all agree" to this "self-evident" truth--which I can 
so label because I didn't invent it.  Viz.:

"Be not righteous overmuch."  [Tehillim]

Wishing us all, on this Pesach, freedom from all that constrains us-

Robert Cohen




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