Re:Kol Isha Redux

[Sylvia Schildt <creativa...>]

Dear Listers,

I promised myself  I was done with this issue. But here I go again. Moshe
Berlin's account of how the Orthodox can handle a world in which Kol Isha is
a given is very interesting.

But that's not where the difficulty lies. When I enter a frum home (and I
do) or a synagogue of the Orthodox and even Naturei Karta persuasion, I
readily accept and accommodate myself to their parameters. If I find it too
difficult I can avoid the situation by not going there. Simple.

The trouble comes when the two worlds share one platform, venue or
performance situation. And there the pressure to "be sensitive" always
weighs in favor of the Orthodox. I attended a wedding recently in which the
Kol Chayyim orchestra played. The bride's family and friends were a mix of
modern and even secular. The groom's family were Iranian black hats. A sort
of "compromise" had been reached. No female vocalist. A fence between men
and women for separate dancing with the understanding that after the black
hats had their coffee and dessert and departed, mixed dancing (including for
bride and groom) could commence.  After all is said and done, the wedding
which lasted from 7 until about 10:30 afforded maybe 1/2 hour to 45 minutes
in which the non-frum could relax and feel comfortable. I do not consider
this a fair and equitable compromise, since the sensibilities of the
non-frum received very little weight.

We will never persuade the frum to relax their stand on Kol Isha. But in
mixed situations, the sensibilities of the rest of us (and we are the
MAJORITY!!) need to be given equal consideration.

In planning the September IAYC conference, we provided for sensitve kosher
accommodations plus Saturday morning services with separated screened areas
for men and women for our frum participants -- but our performance and
workshop schedule does NOT accommodate Kol Isha. A schedule will be provided
and participants will be able to make their own decisions. We want everyone
to be comfortable.

Lorele sings at our opening keynote festivities - Steven Greenman will
accompany her on his magic violin.. At our Saturday night concert we have a
band with a female vocalist -  Charm City Klezmer, `( Judith Geller,
keyboard/vocals) plus a klezmer duo - the Fish Street Klezmer with Shira
Shazeer and Ken Richmond of Klezmaniacs fame (they both sing) and then, our
wonderful world-class charismatic khazn Avi Albrecht will come on and sing
Yiddish songs.

Performers and planners need to bring as much sensibility to bear on the
needs of the majority as they do on those of a very vocal and inflexible
minority. This goes beyond feminism - it is only simple human courtesy. AND
YOU KNOW WHAT, THAT'S A MITZVAH IN IN ANYONE'S BOOK.


Sylvia Schildt
Baltmore, Maryland


on 3/1/03 5:12 PM, Moshe Berlin at berlim (at) bezeqint(dot)net wrote:

> I want to add that a women group named Bat_Kol is also active in Israel. The
> leader is my ex-student and my daughter is also performing there. They
> perform on keyboard, clarinet, trumpet, and drums, and if it's needed they
> add also a voice.
> The idea begun when I was seeking for a solution on playing for weddings
> with separate halls for men and women. The solutions were either
> 1) to transfer the music from the hall where the band perform via
> loudspeakers to the second hall (where the band is not performing) or
> 2) to take 2 bands, one to each hall. In this case the band has to perform
> behind a curtain when the women were dancing. (I remember that when I
> performed in such cases I saw only the head of the dancers, which allowed me
> to guide the dancing).
> The failure of the first case is when there is no correlation between the
> halls e.g when the women want to dance in the time the men want to hear the
> Rabbi's speech or vice versa
> The solution of taking a women-band for the girls is the best one but it is
> not so spread (maybe because they feel better when the band is male-band, or
> because they want to hear the performance as they are recorded on the CDs
> where the performers , especially the singers are male). Anyway the idea
> that a women-band can perform as well as men, is getting more and more
> acceleration. (especially in bat Mitzvah)
> 
> Moshe (Moussa) Berlin
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Elrosen (at) aol(dot)com>
> To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
> Sent: Friday, February 28, 2003 4:21 PM
> Subject: Women-only concerts (Kol Isha)
> 
> 
>> I don't know why no one has mentioned this before, but there are many
> performances put on in Orthodox circles by women for women only. One such
> example is a group of women in Efrat, Israel, who perform musicals a few
> times a year in order to raise money for terror victims.
>> There are also those who tour, such as Susan Kates and Julia Bloom, and
> give performances for women only.
>> Additionally, many seminaries arrange performances by women for women
> only. As part of its Arts Festival, Yeshiva University hosts an event called
> "Kol Isha" that features female singers (also only for female students).
>> I also don't think it would be a bad idea for someone (possibly on this
> list) to organize a women-only performance (maybe as a benefit concert).
>> 
>> Anyways, Shabbos is approaching in the Holy Land...
>> 
>> Have a good Shabbos,
>> Elie
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Elie Rosenblatt
>> elrosen (at) aol(dot)com
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 

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