Q&A: Music
Music
Question
Is it permitted to listen to/sing music from non-Jews (- and the same would apply to Jews who are not considered Jews according to Jewish law, such as heretics, Sabbath desecrators, and the like)?
If not according to Jewish law, then is there any issue from the standpoint of ethics or piety?
Answer
What prohibition could there be in that?
I don’t understand these other matters, and I think nobody else does either. It doesn’t seem to me that there is any problem with it.
Discussion on Answer
To Rabbi Boris, may he live long and well,
In general, aren’t there prohibitions that if a Jew violates them (and sometimes depending on certain conditions, such as regularly or publicly, intentionally, etc.), his status is like that of a gentile in every respect—and this includes the above, “whether heretics or those who publicly desecrate the Sabbath”? And there’s nothing to be done; that is the Jewish law.
Jews who desecrate the Sabbath, or speak slander, or cheat in business,
they are Jews who desecrate the Sabbath, or cheat in business, or speak slander.