Why does Jewish law object to women singing in front of men?
Ask the rabbi.
Rabbi Raymond Apple
WOMEN’S VOICES
Q. Why does Jewish law object to women singing in front of men?
A. The rule derived from the Talmud (Ber. 24a etc.) is “kol b’ishah ervah” – “A woman’s voice arouses (desire)”.
I will come back to the “b” in front of “ishah”, but let me first address your main question.
It is not only Judaism that has a problem with female voices. A French writer, discussing the opera and its music, says, “She who sings must die”. Female characters in many operas do die by the time the performance ends. The idea seems to be that the more rapturous a woman singer becomes the more she enters another realm.
Men both want and don’t want to hear the female voice, and several religions, not just Judaism, seek to control it.
The halachic objection applies especially during religious worship and especially when the singer is both seen – the “b” in front of “ishah” indicates “with the (sight of) the woman” – and heard.
Though many translations render “ervah” as “lustful” or “impure”, deriving it from “ur”, “to be bare”, I recommend a translation which links the word with a verb that means to awaken or arouse.
There is a form of this verb in “L’chah Dodi” when we say “Hit’orari”, from a root which is also spelled “ayin-vav-resh”, to wake. The passage calls upon Zion to awaken at the coming of the Messiah.
EXPELLING THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE
Q. Why does Judaism not expel Jews who refuse to believe?
A. We believe in the right, not the duty, to believe.
Belief has to be genuine and cannot be foisted upon you. The inability to believe should never be regarded almost as a hanging offence.
Doubt must be allowed for. Hopefully one will work through the doubt and come to belief, but not everyone will.
It has been said that if human beings had no choice but to perceive God and, in the terminology of the Torah, they had no possibility of hardening their heart, then faith would not be faith because it would not have arisen in our heart but would be forced upon us.
Rabbi Raymond Apple served for 32 years as the chief minister of the Great Synagogue, Sydney, Australia’s oldest and most prestigious congregation. He is now retired and lives in Jerusalem where he answers interesting questions.
Thank you, Rabbi Apple, for your explanation about the rule derived from the Talmud re ‘the problem’ of women singing in front of men.
Surely it is time for this rule to be banished and done away with. Let the onus be on men to contend with the problem they might have, indeed to control their desire or learn how to focus elsewhere despite it, rather than be forbidden to see and hear women sing. It is really the height of ridiculousness and by inference deleterious and insulting to women.. Let men learn how to become strong within and ‘protect’ themselves if they feel they must. (And while we’re at it, no more crossing the street if women are walking opposite in the distance, in order to be sure they won’t glance at a woman! It’s immature and downright offensive to the women involved.) It seems Judaism needs rewriting in this regard.
As for opera and the French writer: ‘she who sings must die’, what are we to do with this information? Add it to the bandwagon where women are seen as dangerous or bad because they might be perceived by men as alluring. It’s true that many operas see the woman protagonist die at end, but that’s no excuse for Judaism to join the fray. Let’s get rid of this nasty rule that demonises women and contributes to the notion that they are witches.