Q&A: "Do not place a stumbling block" / enabling in regard to group singing
"Do not place a stumbling block" / enabling in regard to group singing
Question
- Is there a problem with participating in a public sing-along on the eve of Memorial Day? In public, of course, there will also be women.
- Is there a problem with organizing such an evening?
Also, someone else would always be found to replace me.
Answer
In my opinion, there is room to be lenient. Multiple voices are not distinguishable as one (“two voices cannot be heard distinctly”)—when several women are singing, and when it is mixed together with the men, and not a performance by a female singer before an audience—and even in that case, in my opinion, there is room to be lenient, but this is not the place to elaborate. Especially since on Memorial Day this is not erotic singing, but a different kind of atmosphere.
Discussion on Answer
Where did I write that? And from that Ritva one can definitely draw that conclusion. It really makes no difference whom he is talking about. He established a principle, and it is applicable to everyone.
"Besides their male and female servants, these were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven; and they had two hundred male and female singers… And the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants settled in their cities, and all Israel in their cities."
Does the Rabbi hold that it is forbidden to hear a woman singing even if there is no concern of erotic thoughts? I heard from Rabbi Shlomo Fischer that anywhere there is no concern of erotic thoughts, it is permitted. He relies on the final Ritva in Kiddushin, who says that even explicit rabbinic prohibitions are permitted to be violated where there is absolutely no concern of erotic thoughts.
(Anyone who looks at the Ritva may be surprised—the Ritva speaks only about completely righteous people who can be confident in themselves; how can we little people learn practical guidance from that? No difficulty at all: follow the reason. The Ritva says that only completely righteous people, in a situation where erotic thoughts and pleasure are relevant, if they are confident they will not stumble, it is permitted. Precisely where pleasure and erotic thoughts are relevant, one needs to be righteous in order to permit it, because an ordinary person cannot be sure he can withstand his impulse, and only a righteous person who knows from experience that he withstands his impulse can permit it. If so, the same applies to every person when it is obvious to him that erotic thoughts are not relevant, since he knows with certainty that he will not stumble. What difference is there between a righteous person and a wicked person in that respect? Therefore, only a person for whom singing could lead to erotic thoughts and sexual pleasure is forbidden to listen.) I would appreciate a response.