Kol Isha III: In Context קול אישה (ג): בהקשרים שונים

Didn’t Rava say: We have a tradition that the evil inclination only has control over what one’s eyes see.

Our rabbis taught: With Torah [reading] one reads and one translates, as long as there is not one reading and two translating [Rashi: because of ‘two voices are not heard’]…But with Hallel and megilla, even ten can read and ten translate. What is the reason? Since it is beloved, they [people] pay attention and hear.

[When women sing and men respond] it is like fire in flax – Since the one who responds inclines his ear to hear the singer in order to respond after him, and these men end up paying attention to the voice of the women and the voice of a woman is erva

“For your voice is pleasant and your appearance is comely” is cited in Berachot 24a as a basis for “kol be-isha erva.” Separating this verse into its components reveals, in my opinion, the qualities of kol be-isha erva in its sharpest and most stimulating form, and they are: (1) a woman (2) solo (3) who makes her voice heard (4) that is pleasant (5) with intention to give pleasure (6) to an individual man (7) who intends to hear and (8) to benefit from her voice and (9) enjoys her appearance. All these are reasons to be stringent, and corresponding to them are reasons to be lenient.

In a place of song: In synagogue, for there the congregation recite songs and praises with the pleasantness of a sweet voice.

We only have a practiced man lead prayer. (Who is a practiced man?) Rabbi Yehuda says: …he can keep a tune and his voice is sweet and he is expert in reading Torah and Nevi’im and Ketuvim and in learning midrash, halachot and aggadot, and expert in all the berachot altogether.

Thus said the Lord of Hosts, contemplate and call the women who lead dirges and they will come, and send to the wise women and they will come.

On Rosh Chodesh, on Chanuka and on Purim, they wail and strike [hands in mourning] on all of these, but do not lead dirges responsively. When the deceased has been buried, they don’t wail or strike. What is wailing? That all wail in unison. A dirge? That one speaks and everyone answers after her, as it is written “and teach weeping to your daughters and each woman a dirge to her neighbor” (Yirmiyahu 9:19)

Just as Moshe led the men in song, so Miryam led the women in song.

….Since one is afraid, inappropriate thoughts do not come. And here, what fear is there?…if you want, say: fear of his teacher, and if you want, say: fear of the Shechina.

Shemuel said: A woman’s voice is erva, as it is written, For your voice is sweet, meaning, the singing voice. And all these, Rav Yehudai Gaon explained as being for the matter of keri’at Shema. Therefore, it is prohibited to recite keri’at Shema or sacred words while hearing a woman’s voice singing. In our iniquity, we dwell among non-Jews and at “a time to act for God, abrogate strict law” (Tehillim 119:126). Therefore, we are not careful about learning while hearing the voices of non-Jewish women.

Rabin bar Rav Ada said in the name of Rabbi Yitzchak:…. From where [do we know] that when ten pray together, the Shechina is with them – as it is written “God stands in the congregation of God” (Tehillim 82:1) ….And from where [do we know] that even one who sits and occupies himself with Torah, the Shechina is with him – as it is written, “in every place where I cause My name to be mentioned, I will come to you and bless you.” (Shemot 20:21)

…One should not allow her to recite the kaddish of the prayer, and it is prohibited even if she is unmarried, and all the more so, Heaven forfend that a married woman should make her voice heard to the masses by recited kaddish, whether in synagogue or in a minyan…[Elef La-mateh:] For at this time, immodesty is common and one should not do so…even though this isn’t kol isha…

Our rabbis taught: All are counted towards the count of seven, even a minor and even a woman. But the sages said: A woman should not read from the Torah because of kevod ha-tzibbur.

For they are obligated in reading megilla and fit to read it and to discharge the obligations of males.

The author of Aseret Ha-dibrot (Ba’al Ha-itur) wrote that women do not discharge men’s obligations with their reading, and the reason is kol be-isha erva, and even though they light Chanuka candles and recite the berachot, this is not similar because there is no need for men to be present at the time of lighting.

…According to the first opinion [that women discharge men’s obligation in megilla reading], this voice is not considered erva because it is not a singing voice.

For we believe that every prayer or praise or thanksgiving that mixes with any [sexual] stray thoughts, even of his wife, will not ascend on high before God and will not be received before Him. And therefore, we separate the women from the men, in a synagogue to themselves, so that they [the men] not come to stray thoughts at the time of prayer and their prayer be rejected, Heaven help us …Since we clarified that a woman’s voice is akin to erva; if so, the voice that travels from the women’s section to the men’s section arouses stray thoughts and nullifies intentionality during prayer….. It seems, in my humble opinion, that for this reason we should stop the sound of women singing in their [women’s] synagogue at the time that men are in their [men’s] synagogue

Footnote 4:

…We are accustomed not to be particular about the women’s singing emerging from the women’s section (Chatam Sofer CM 190 was stringent about this). Regarding Shabbat songs in a family setting with guests, the basis for the lenient position is set out in Seridei Eish I:77, and as he testified that this was the practice of God-fearing families and Rabbis in Germany, and one can infer that this was also their practice with Torah-observant guests who were not members of the family. I originally thought that the widespread custom is that if there are second-degree relatives present, the women do not sing. However, over the years I have heard testimony that even in the homes of Rabbis from other communities, the practice was for women to sing with second-degree relatives. Professor Shaul Stampfer told me that in the home of Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank, who was his grandfather’s uncle, everyone present sang Shabbat zemirot together – men and women. In order to confirm his childhood memory, he went back and asked Rav Frank’s son, Rav Avraham, and his wife, and they testified that women indeed sang, and their voices were audible because they enjoyed singing out loud. And similarly, Rav Dvir Azulay sent me testimony that Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef sent him: “In the home of our master, my esteemed father and Rav [Ovadya Yosef], the practice throughout the years was for all the family to sing together Shabbat night and day, with the siblings-in-law and all the siblings, and our master said to them, that since the girl is not singing “solo,” but her voice is absorbed with all the voices, there is no prohibition in this, even if her voice is also heard, and this is for a voice that is not especially strong, but ordinary, and not especially high in tone.” (He wrote similarly in Yalkut Yosef, Shabbat, Part I, vol. 3, pp. 368-73.)

For it is said “And Chana was speaking to herself, only her lips moved but her voice was not heard and God heard her prayer.” (Shemuel I 1:13) And so it is with all living creatures, as it is said “A prayer for the poor man when he wraps himself, [before God he pours out his conversation].” Like a person who speaks in his friend’s ear and he hears. Is there a God closer than this, that He is close to His creatures like a mouth to an ear?

And Miryam the prophet, sister of Aharon, took the timbrel in her hand and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing. And Miryam called out responsively to them: Sing to God for He has triumphed greatly, horse and his rider He has cast into the sea.