Five Towns Newspaper Quotes Rabbi: Kol Isha No Problem if Listener Doesn’t Know What Singer Looks Like

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orrin-hatchIn a report on the Chanukah song recently written by Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, the Five Towns Jewish Times (FTJT) quotes an unnamed rabbi with regard to the permissibility of listening to the song, which features the singing of women and can be heard on YouTube.

Senator Hatch described his song, “Eight Days of Hanukkah,” as a gift to the Jewish people. “This song means more to me than most of the songs I have ever written,” he said. “People need to know the story of Hanukkah. It was a miracle.”

The Five Towns Jewish Times, commenting on the song, states,  “Most poskim hold that there is no violation of kol isha when one does not know what the singer looks like,” remarked a local Five Towns rabbi.

The song can be heard on Youtube, for those who wish to hear it, adds the FTJT.

The newspaper calls the composition of the song by the senator “a bizarre development.”

The senator says he will do “anything” for the Jewish people, and even sometimes wishes that he was born Jewish.

The statements came during an interview Hatch did with The Mormon Times. The Utah Senator, known for penning religious hymns and patriotic songs.

“Anything I can do for the Jewish people, I will do,” Hatch said. “Mormons believe the Jewish people are the chosen people, just like the Old Testament says.”

At one point during the interview, Hatch unbuttoned his white dress shirt – not a Shabbos shirt, reports the FTJT – to expose the golden mezuzah necklace he wears every day. Mezuzahs also adorn the doorways of his homes in Washington and Utah. Hatch keeps a Torah in his Senate office.

“Not a real Torah, but sort of a mock Torah,” he said. “I feel sorry I’m not Jewish sometimes.”

The FTJT concludes: “This is not the first Chanukah song by a secular individual in recent years. ‘Put on Your Yarmulkah, Here Comes Chanukah’ was a top hit three years ago, by a Jewish comedian.”

{Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}


12 COMMENTS

  1. I did not see the teshuvos myself, however I heard from a Talmid Chacham many years ago that it is a machlokes Reb Moshe, zt”l and the Debretzina zt”l, Reb Moshe being the meikil.
    (I’m sure Reb Moshe would not suggest a person should listen, but lihalacha it’s mutar – of course if it brings hirurim it’s asur min haTorah!)

  2. if more than 1 woman sings theres room for leniency [trey koly loi mishtamshe] see in detail about the general topic in shu’t siredey aish also the yechaveh daas discusses the case when the female is not seen.

  3. Love this Rabbi, I am switching mentors. You see, I like to shop around for whomever pleases my current mood.
    I hope you all realize this is ‘tongue in cheek’

  4. The rabbi spoke the truth. Also, there is no problem when it is recorded, unless it is me’orer taavah. Just like you don’t answer amein to a record bracha because it is not a kol, a recorded kol isha is not a kol.

  5. Comment # 5 from Teimini

    “Reb Moshe is certaonly NOT meikel on this issue. See Igros Moshe Y.D. 2:75.”

    Do you have another source? I just looked in I”M Y.D. 2:75 and it does not even discuss a case where you don’t know what the woman looks like. The case there is about a husband listening to his wife sing while she is a nida!!

  6. Harav Ovadia Yosef Shlita was quoted as saying that as long as you do not see the woman it shouldn’t be a problem i think he was talking about the nine days where the Sefardim [or the week of “Tisha B’av im not sure](and the Ashkenazim the full three weeks) are not permitted to listen to music however he said if you don’t see the artist play or sing then it wouldn’t be a problem to listen the music (therefore a CD or radio wouldn’t be a problem)

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