[Avodah] fashion models and opera singers

[Rabbi Y. H. Henkin]

 >Can the same thing be said about a frum female who wants to wear a

 bikini at the beach - it's those men looking at her that are

 transgressing, not her?  And, since these men are at the beach where     there are other women dressed in a similar fashion), there's no

 problem with "lifnei eiver."<

 

 >I think we all would agree that this would,in fact,be wrong. If so,

 how is it different than singing at the opera - both are "displaying

 their erva"?<

 

The difference is that Lifnei Iver is violated in that the viewer of a woman in a bikini likely would have sexual thoughts—hirhurim. The listener to a female singer in an opera likely would not, nowadays. Hence, no Lifnei Iver.

A women's voice is still  ervah in that Chaza"l decreed that one may not recite a davar shebik'dusha while hearing her sing, regardless of the presence or absence of hirhurim. But that is a different Halachic category.

Rabbi Yehuda Henkin


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