28 Apr Teshuvas on Sefira and Corona

LISTENING TO MUSIC DURING SEFIRA (OR OTHER PERIODS OF MOURNING) TO MAINTAIN MENTAL A HEALTHY STATE OF MIND (2020) 

In each of the three stages of mourning, Halacha mandates decreasing levels of stringency. During Shiva one refrains almost entirely from personal grooming and during Shloshim to a lesser extent. During the twelve months of mourning for a parent, one refrains from certain forms of pleasurable activities. Poskim explain that the respective guidelines of each period are suspended when they will cause undue pain or illness. For example, prohibitions against bathing or laundering must be suspended when a risk of contagious disease will ensue.The custom to refrain from listening to music during the twelve months of mourning is based on the restrictions against pleasurable activities during this period. The laws of Sefira are patterned after these restrictions. The original minhag to avoid music only applied to dancing music. Later, it was extended to include even other forms of music as well. During this time of global suffering, it would appear that for some individuals, refraining from listening or playing music may leave one in a state of sadness or emotional distress. This would appear to reach beyond the intent of this restriction. If the motivation to listen to music is not to put oneself in a cheerful mood but rather to ease the tension or pressure in one’s home, and to help bring oneself back to a normal disposition, that would be permissible. One should still avoid listening to very cheerful music. The same would even apply during Shiva, in rare instances when listening to music is necessary to avoid a depressed state of mind.

TEMPORARY BURIAL, SHIVA, SHLOSHIM, AND RELATED ISSUES (2020) 

A family who is currently unable to use their burial plots in Eretz Yisrael due to the coronavirus, may perform a temporary burial in Chutz L’Aretz and when the situation permits, the body may be disinterred and moved to Eretz Yisrael as is indicated clearly in the Shulchan Aruch. 1. A mourner who will not attend the burial is no longer an Onen once he has completed all necessary phone calls and e-mails regarding arrangements with the Chevra Kadisha and cemetery. Shiva begins at this point. However, if the mourner who will not be personally attending the funeral, will still be involved in letting others know where they can watch or listen to the funeral and burial, then this is considered to be “involved in the burial process” and he would therefore remain an Onen until after the kevura. [However, it is not clear what the status should be of a mourner who will not be communicating with others about how to attend or watch the funeral, but will personally be watching or listening to the funeral.] 2. Shiva ends for a mourner immediately prior to Chatzos on Erev Pesach. If Shiva did not begin before Chatzos (i.e. burial did not take place until after Chatzos), the common practice is that the mourner does observe Shiva at that time until Pesach begins. (It is questionable whether this practice is correct because there is room to argue that the shiva shouldn’t begin until after Pesach). 3. The common practice for Asheknazim is that one does not wear tefillin on the first day of Shiva, even if the first day of Shiva follows the day of the petira. 4. On the second day of Shiva, it is best for the mourner to put on his tefillin after ha’neitz ha’chama (sunrise). 5. Normally, a mourner may not prepare his own food for the first meal after the funeral. There are two reasons suggested for this prohibition. First, since part of the mitzvah of comforting the mourner is to provide food, by eating his own food, the mourner is preventing others from fulfilling their mitzvah properly. Second, by taking food from others the mourner is demonstrating his aveilus. It is a demonstration of mourning to show a lack of self-sufficiency to the point that one can’t prepare his own food. A practical difference between the two approaches would be whether the mourner may eat from his own food on Chol Ha’Moed when we don’t observe practices of mourning, though there remains a mitzvah of comforting a mourner. Since we generally assume that even on Chol Ha’Moed a mourner cannot eat his own food for the first meal, it seems that we assume the first explanation of this halacha to be correct. Consequently, in a situation such as the current one, where comforters are unable to come to the house due to social distancing, the mourner may eat his own food. He is not preventing others from doing the mitzvah of comforting him since they are unable to do so in person anyway. It would certainly be proper for the community to arrange for a meal to be delivered to the mourner’s home right away. 6. If Shiva concludes on the morning of Erev Pesach, the period of Shloshim begins immediatly and ends at chatzos on Erev Pesach. The Avel now begins the period of “Twelve Months” for a parent. Normally, one in this category of Aveilus may shave after eight days if he usually shaves daily, as this is considered, “yiga’aru bo chaveirav.” However, because in this situation the Shloshim ended on Erev Pesach (while in reality thirty days have not yet passed), there is a dispute among the poskim as to whether it is permitted for the mourner to shave. The major poskim recommend that one be stringent on this matter, but Chacham Ovadia Yosef concludes that if a person feels there is a great need he may rely on those lenient opinions who say that Shloshim is no longer in effect at all and one would be permitted to shave.