31 Jan BESHALACH: THE DAY THE WOMEN SANG

WHY DOES
JEWISH LAW
OPPOSE A MALE
LISTENING TO A
FEMALE
SINGER?
9 Soldiers Walk Out
The following story became a major news
item in Israel, back in September 2011,
reflecting the poor communication between
religious and secular Jews, allowing for
stereotypes on both sides to persist.
At a military event, Jewish female
soldiers began singing solo as part of a
military band. Nine religious Israeli
soldiers chose to leave the auditorium,
based on the law in Judaism that men
should not listen to women singing.
Regiment Commander Uzi Kileger warned
them: “If you don’t come back inside
immediately, you will be refusing orders
and will be dismissed from the course.”
(According to the General Staff orders, a
religious soldier is entitled not to take part
in recreational activity which contradicts
his lifestyle and faith, but the orders do not
apply to non-recreational military events.)
Indeed, four of the nine religious cadets
who walked out were dismissed from their
officers’ course.
In much of the Israeli media, these
soldiers were blasted for their “primitive
behavior” and their tenacious adherence to
an “orthodox custom” which denigrates
women, advocating their voices to remain
cloistered, so that they do not, “heaven
forbid,” express them uninhibitedly.
How sad when Jewish law is so
misunderstood.
The Talmudic Source
The source of this law is in the Talmud[1]
(the authoritative compilation of Jewish
law, history and theology authored 1700
years ago) and in the Code of Jewish Law
(known as the Shlchan Aruch).
אמר שמואל, קול באשה ערוה, שנאמר כי קולך
.ערב ומראך נאוה
The Talmudic sage Shmuel said, the voice
of a women (singing) has intimate power;
as the verse states: your voice is sweet and
your countenance beautiful.
The Babylonian 2th century sage Samuel
is referring here to the description in the
Song of Songs where the lover talks about
his beloved. Listen to stunning words
straight out of our Bible:

עָנָה דֹודִי, וְָאמַר- לִי: קּומִי לְָך -רַ עְיָתִי יָפָתִי, ּולְכִי-
לְָך.- כִּי-הִנֵּה הַסְּתָו-, עָבָר; הַגֶּשֶׁם, חָלַף -הָלְַך לֹו.
הַנִּצָּנִים- נִרְ אּו בָָארֶ ץ, עֵת- הַזָּמִיר הִגִּיעַ; וְקֹול -הַּתֹור,
נִשְׁמַע בְַּארְ צֵנּו-. הַתְּאֵנָה חָנְטָה פַגֶּיהָ,- וְהַגְּפָנִים סְמָדַר
נָתְנּו רֵ יחַ;- קּומִי לְָך רַ עְיָתִי- יָפָתִי, ּולְכִי-לְָך.- יֹונָתִי
בְּחַגְוֵי הַסֶּלַע,- בְּסֵתֶר הַמַּדְרֵ גָה, הַרְ אִינִי- אֶת-מַרְ ַאיְִך,
.הַשְׁמִיעִנִי- אֶת-קֹולְֵך כִּי-קֹולְֵך -עָרֵ ב, ּומַרְ אֵיְך נָאוֶה
“Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and
go to yourself. For behold, the winter has
passed; the rain is over and gone. The
blossoms have appeared in the land, the
time of singing has arrived, and the voice
of the turtledove is heard in our land. The
fig tree has put forth its green figs, and the
vines with their tiny grapes have given
forth their fragrance; arise, my beloved,
my beautiful one, and go to yourself. My
dove is in the clefts of the rock, in the
coverture of the steps; show me your
appearance, let me hear your voice, for
your voice is pleasant and your appearance
is beautiful!”
But wait! Just open up the weekly portion,
Beshalach, and you will notice a problem.
No smaller a personality than Miriam, the
older sister of Moses, and a prophetess in
her own right—sings in front of many
men, in the presence of her own brother
Moses who has no qualms about her
behavior.
Here is how the Torah describes it:
וַתִּקַּח מִרְ יָם הַנְּבִיָאה -אֲחֹות ַאהֲר ֹן אֶת- הַת ֹּף בְּיָדָּה
וַתֵּצֶאןָ- כָל הַנָּשִׁים ַאחֲרֶ יהָ- בְּתֻפִּים ּבִמְח ֹלת. וַתַּעַן-
לָהֶם מִרְ יָם -שִׁירּו לַה‘ כִּי -גָא ֹה גָָּאה סּוס -וְר ֹכְבֹו רָ מָה-
.בַיָּם
Miriam the prophetess, the sister of
Aaron, took the tambourine in her hand;
and all the women followed her with
tambourines and dances. And Miriam
called to them: ‘Sing to G-d, for He is most
exalted; horse and rider He cast in the
sea…’
Here we have it black-and-white: Days
after their departure from Egypt, as the
Jews cross the Red Sea, just a few weeks
away from the Revelation at Sinai, and in
the presence of Moses and some one
million men—Moses’ older sister, the
prophetess Miriam, leads all of the women
in song. What happened to the admonition
against women singing in public?
To be sure, the Torah has not been given
yet. Nonetheless, if the Torah would define
this as immodest and inappropriate
behavior, how is it that at such an elevated
moment they would engage in this?[6]
Let me share a fascinating insight by the
Italian sage and Kabbalist Rabbi
Menachem Azaryah of Fanu (1548—

1620), in his book Kanfei Yona.
The Reason for a Law
Let’s go back a step: Why does
Jewish law not want the man to
hear a female sing?
It is not because women’s singing
is somehow not up to par or
unholy. To the contrary, the
feminine song has an electrifying
power to it, it capturing her beauty,
majesty and soulfulness. True, in
our society we don’t pay enough homage
to a woman singing because our over
exposure to everything and anything often
dulls our sensesto the sensations of intimate
power. Whenever you are overexposed to
something, your senses become dulled to
the grandeur involved.
The Torah attempts to fine-tune us to
subtlety; to cultivate within us an
appreciation of deep energy and soulful
emotion, to detect the vibrations of the
inner heart. The Torah wants us never to
lose our sensitivity to the sensual energy
transported in the sweet, pleasant sound of
a woman singing. As the Song of Songs
puts it:
הַרְ אִינִי אֶת-מַרְ ַאיְִך,- הַשְׁמִיעִנִי אֶת-קֹולְֵך- כִּי-קֹולְֵך
.עָרֵ ב,- ּומַרְ אֵיְך נָאוֶה
“Show me your appearance, let me hear
your voice, for your voice is pleasant and
your appearance is beautiful!”
Own Your Intimacy
The Torah always maintained that every
human being, woman and man, has the
right and duty to respect, safeguard and
cherish their intimacy, their inner sacred
space.
A woman must own her inner intimate
power; it is her secret from G-d that she
ought to treat with the utmost dignity.
Never should a girl or woman feel pressure
that she needs to impress strangers through
her body and voice. Her soul, body and
voice belong to her alone, and no one else.
The pressure on of so many wonderful
people to use their most precious selves to
entice and engage deprives them from a
peaceful, wholesome and confident life.
Woe to a society that indirectly teaches

young women that their value and self-
esteem comes when members of the

opposite gender are infatuated by their
physique. A woman’s beauty, like every
person’s beauty, must be owned by her, and
must be preserved, protected and nurtured
with sensitivity and delicacy. It is too fine,
too sacred, too subtle, to be pulled through

the gutter. It is not cheap. The laws of
Judaism focusing on modesty are not
intended to repress the woman; they are
intended to create an environment where
she can be most natural and real without
someone manipulating and misusing her
intimacy for his selfish needs.
Women and girls should sing; their music
has unique energy and power. When
women begin singing, the men ought to
leave the room as a sign of respect toward
the woman. The man is making the
statement that her intimate soulfulness
does not belong to him. Music is spiritual;
singing comes from the soul. And if he is
going to use her singing as a tool for his
own physical enjoyment, never mind for a
promiscuous thought, he is violating her
dignity.
When the Veil Was Removed
Now we will understand why after the
splitting of the sea Miriam and all the
women sung out loud.
In the song that Moses sang with the men
before Miriam, they declared: “This is my
G-d!”
Says Rashi: This is my G-d: He revealed
Himself in His glory to them [the Israelites],
and they pointed at Him with their finger
[as denoted by the word:“this is my G-d”].
By the sea, a maidservant perceived what
prophets did not perceive.
It was a unique moment. The inner
spiritual core of the universe came to the
fore. At such a moment, there is no room
for distortion. When the presence of G-d is
felt, when the organic unity of the universe
is experienced, each of us experiences not
our brute, selfish superficial self, but with
our innate holiness and love. Then the
intimate voice of the woman will only
inspire people to greater moral and spiritual
heights. Gone is the concern that someone
will use a female voice for superficial and
immoral pursuits. On the contrary, the
voice of Miriam and some one million girls
and women sublimated souls and kindled
hearts.