An Orthodox school in Israel suspended Ophir Ben-Shetreet, a 17-year-old girl, after she sang on the Israeli version of The Voice, arguing that her appearance violated the laws of kol isha that forbid men from hearing women (who are not their wives, mothers or young daughters) sing.
Ophir Ben-Shetreet
An Orthodox school in Israel suspended Ophir Ben-Shetreet, a 17-year-old girl, after she sang on the Israeli version of The Voice, arguing that her appearance violated the laws of kol isha that forbid men from hearing women (who are not their wives, mothers or young daughters) sing.
The truth is that some rabbinic opinion allows singing in front of men if the woman's voice is projected by electronic amplification. Others allow it if the song being sung is religious in nature and not secular. But generally rabbis forbid it at any time or place, amplified or not.
That leaves women with great voices and a desire to use them with little outlet to do so other than special women-only concerts.
The underlying concept of kol isha is that a woman's voice is sexually arousing to men and therefore must not be heard in public and by all but her closest relatives in limited circumstances.
I never really understood that until I accidentally heard the most beautiful operatic woman's voice I had ever heard one day outside the Chabad House in St. Paul. That voice turned out to belong to a former girlfriend who was standing on a second floor deck and singing as I was walking by at street level.
The responsibility of the rabbinic ban on hearing women sing falls primarily on women because it is not possible for people to shut off and turn on their hearing at will. If a woman is singing and a man walks by on the street below, he'll hear it.
But this is not true with regard to television, CDs, and indoor concerts, all of which require specific actions to be taken by men in order to hear the woman sing. You have to turn on the TV and switch to that specific channel to hear the show, or buy the CD and play it, or buy a ticket and enter the concert hall in order to hear her sing.
In other words, the responsibility for hearing a woman sing under these circumstances belongs almost wholly on the men because they have complete control over making the choices necessary to hear her, and those who chose to do so have, as they say in the rabbi business, poskim (rabbinic authorities) to rely on.
Did the girl's Orthodox school overreact?
Probably, although the real overreaction came centuries ago when kol isha was first instituted by rabbis who were also fond of pointing out that women are inciters whose bodies are vessels of filth.
As for this girl, if you want to hear how good she really is, wait for the Q and A with the judges after her song, when she's asked to sing a tradition Sefardi religious song a capella. She has the chance to go very far, if she wants to.
אופיר בן שטרית - עוד מחכה לאחד
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[Hat Tip: HeathenHassid.]