ululating

[Judith R Cohen <judithc...>]

> How different are those arguments from halakhic authority different from
> Talibanic reasoning that forced the women of Afghanistan to wear burkas?

Sylvia, is this a rhetorical question? :)   
> 
> Re: ululation. What an interesting observation.  Because by the way, the
> women at this wedding ullulated during the ceremony and at the recessional.
> In the sanctuary yet. I hadn't stopped to think - isn't this also Kol
> Isha.?????  So what have we got here - selective Kol Isha?

 I don;'t think it's come up for a few reasons.

For one, ululating is often considered part of a religious expression of
celebration. SO for example, at a bar mitzva, when the boy finishes his
portion of theTorah, the women often toss down wrapped candies from the
balcony (sigh, the balcony) while ululating.

Also, I haven't seen Kol Isha applied in a Moroccan or Yemenite or other
non-Ashkenazi situation at least in Toronto and Montreal, UNTIL they
became influenced by ASHKENAZI orthodox influences. For example, the
same Moroccan congregations (in several cases, the run by members of the
same families) who had mixed singing in the synagogue in Morocco, now
won't even put up a POSTER with an announcement of women singing. But in
fact most Sephardim I know never worried about the kol isha thing: they
are all nominally orthodox, but perhaps because of this have, in
practice, an extremely wide range of levels of observance.

By the way, years ago when we asked the member of my old Moroccan group
Gerineldo how she did the "barwalá"  or "youyou" (what they call
ululating), she said thoughtfully, "eh bien, je ne sais pas, on fait
danser la langue" ("gee, I don't know, you just make your tongue dance."

Judith

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