[Avodah] Kol Isha - HETER

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Feb 02, 2010 at 06:23:12PM +0200, Michael Makovi wrote:
: 1) Rambam and Tur-Shulhan Arukh link kol isha to etzba ketana and say
: kol isha is prohibited only kedei leihanot. So if there is no hana'ah /
: hirhur, then there is no issur either.

Arguably, it is more accurate to define kedei leihanot as:
Only if there is no shred of desire to find hana'ah, even if that desire
remains unfulfilled.

Similarly your point 2:
: 2) According to the ha-kol le-shem shamayim shita ... we may be
: lenient on ANY law of tzniut provided that hirhur / hana'ah is absent.

: 3) Ra'avad and Ra'avyah limit kol isha to singing, whereas Rambam and
: Rabbi Yehuda he-Hasid include even mere speech in the prohibition...

You see, I would take that to mean that narrowing it down to only music
is already a qulah, and therefore one should think thrice before
whittling it any further.

: 4) The Jewish communities of the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, Syria,
: Germany, and Cochin were historically lenient....

Which proves nothing. You would need to show that they historically
weren't being yelled at, despite violating the pesaq of their own
community's rishonim. Most Litvisher women didn't cover their hair, but
no one was pasqining it's okay. Just that it wasn't a battle they could
win.

: 5) Whereas the Aharonim forgot what the prohibition of kol isha was,
...

I can't relate to this sentiment. If you assume such breaks in the
mesorah, can your result be halakhah?

: contrast, the rishonim (and Rabbi Yehiel Weinberg) analyzed kol isha
: based on its purpose and intention, i.e. hirhur and hana'ah...

And many rishonim saw that as reason to be more makhmir than we.

And RYYW was only meiqil because it was to inspire kids who would
otherwise seek clubs not particular to promoting Yahadus! You keep on
invoking him, but RYYW didn't buy into any of your arguments except
where there was a conflicting mitzvah involved!

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Like a bird, man can reach undreamed-of
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