It’s coming. This is just the latest example of how the right-wing “yeshivish velt” is slowly isolating itself and widening the gap between itself and any Jews “to the left,” which, I am not in the least ashamed to admit, includes me.
First, there was a concert.
Then, it was banned.
Then, the headliner caved/pulled out.
If you’re like me, you are wondering, “what the hell is going on here?”
What could possibly be so bad about a concert given by Jews, for Jews, singing “Jewish” music, that it requires the heavy-handedness of 33 rabbis signing on to a ban, with language that ought to be reserved for pedophiles.
Things like this (bans, “da’as torah”) are getting out of hand. The expectation is that there is a complete abdication of responsibility in a Jew’s life, to be handed over to the “gedolim.”
Someone put it remarkably (scarily) well:
But reading this sentence:
“This decision was reached after he consulted with Daas Torah, and talking to leading Gedoley Yisroel,” led me to conclude that …… we have all sinned and deserve judgment, but God, the Father, sent His only Son Daas Torah to satisfy that judgment for those who believe in Him. Daas Torah, the creator and eternal Son of God, who lived a sinless life, loves us so much that He died for our sins, taking the punishment that we deserve, was buried, and rose from the dead according to the Gedoley Yisroel. If you truly believe and trust this in your heart, receiving Daas Torah alone as your Savior, declaring, “Daas Torah is Lord,” you will be saved from judgment and spend eternity with God in heaven.
That’s where we are. The “yeshiva world” is creeping toward an increasingly misguided, misdirected, over-chumrah-ed existence. If this were the behavior of a tyrannic despot, it couldn’t be more transparent: make senseless bans and pronouncements taking away people’s freedoms to distract them from their terrible lives, the crumbling infrastructure of your country and the fact that you can’t rule. All of these “bans” on things as ridiculous as music(!), and whipping people into line, to follow the “gedolim” blindly and submit their will totally to “da’as torah,” simply distract from the truth: that life is terrible, there are major problem that need to be addressed, and those that purport to “lead” are doing nothing about it.
I mean, come on: look at some of the things Lipa Schmeltzer said trying to justify pulling out of the concert (I guess he couldn’t say “I was physically threatened’):
I have recently started learning Bichavrusa with a leading Rosh Yeshiva, and I promised him that I will never sing any songs which were composed by non-Jews. Being true to my word, I have sang at more then a dozen Chasuna’s since I made that decision – and I have not sang “Yidden”, “Abi-Mileibt”, or “Numa” (Rabbi Nachman M’uman) or any other song that is questionable as to its origin.
People should know that this Kol Koreh and ban against The Big Event was not directed at me personally, but at all concerts in general. The Rabbonim felt the need to put their foot down and attempt to stop all future concerts in NY.
As Sheila Broflovski would say, “whatwhatwhat?!?!”
So now any combination of musical notes that was not originally put to paper by a Jew is forbidden? Assur? That’s it? (I guess that means no more horas to “Asher Bora” by the Piamentas, or singing the chabad niggun that was based on Napoleon’s March, or any of the countless chasidish niggunim that were borrowed from drinking songs in the local culture, or any of the liturgical music that we’re so familiar with that was taken from local influences, and Shlock Rock and Gershon Veroba may be out of business.). That’s completely and totally (excuse my irreverence here, sorry) asinine. (I know, I’ve railed about this before, but this is taking the other side to a whole new level of stupidity.) Take a look at the language he uses: “questionable as to its origin.” How narrow-minded and stupid can he possibly be to think that Jewish music only started borrowing in recent times? Do you sing Ma’oz Tzur on Chanuka? Oops:
The present melody for the Hanukkah hymn has been identified by Birnbaum as an adaptation from the old German folk-song “So weiss ich eins, dass mich erfreut, das pluemlein auff preiter heyde,” given in Böhme’s “Altdeutsches Liederbuch” (No. 635); it was widely spread among German Jews as early as 1450. By an interesting coincidence, this folk-melody was also the first utilized by Luther for his German chorals.
So much for authentically Jewish, huh?
And that’s not just him, it’s everyone that supports this ban (and dear lord, reading the comments on Yeshiva World, there seem to be at LOT of those idiots). But worst, in my opinion, are the Rabbis that put their names to it. That lend support and gravitas to such egregious wastes of time. Those Rabbis that “felt the need to put their foot down.” Yes, because there are no problems plaguing the Jewish community that need attending to, like poverty or pedophilia. Thank God, the Jewish community is in such good physical and spiritual shape, that we can work on things like not listening to music in public. And let’s not bother with secular concerts where kids go to get drugs and have sex. No, no. Let’s start with a Jewish music concert that was planning to have separate seating! This is the kind of “ban-it-all,” chumrah driven closed-mindedness that is making it harder and harder for modern Orthodox Jews (who use their brains to think, instead of just keeping their skulls from collapsing inward) to associate with this group, and to take the “gedolim” who put their names to these things seriously. The divide is getting bigger, and soon enough, it will be impossible to cross. It’s time someone pointed out the obvious about “Da’as Torah”: the emperor has no clothes.
The Noy G Show 
First time commenter – first time reader actually.
I tend to agree with you that certain parts of the more right wing yeshivish/chassidish community tend to deal with all challenges as follows: ” Well, it’s different than what we like so….hell let’s just ban the whole damn thing”.
I agree that this form of what I like to call “Extremeist Judaism” is not sustainable in the long run – as it creates too big a rift not only in the left v. right arena – but within right wing judaism as well.
On the other hand – I think to be fair you should take a look at the current makeup of your beloved MO Judaism (of which I, too most associate myself with). How sustainable is MO? It’s creating a generation of Hannah Montana following, Jamie Lynn Spears wannabe-ing, High school musical lovig, eating salad in treif restaurant going etc etc etc jews.
So you have a right wing getting increasnigly righter and a left wing getting increasingly lefter. And, sadly, the sane middle is shrinking to the point of extinction.
I live in the modern world – I try to navigate the challenges that i feel the right simlpy tries to pretend isn’t there. But you cannot look at modern communities and pretend like the connection to Judaism is slipping a bit each generation.
Noyam, as usual I must take issue with your post. This is very one-sided reporting. The concert was in fact much more sinister than you lead on, and the Gedoley Yisroel had good reason to ban it. Did you know that the proceeds from ticket sales were going to be used to pay for the weddings of destitute Jewish orphans? Personally, I’m happy those orphans will have to find another way to scrape up some loose change and get married in more appropriate, meager conditions.
Bravo! Bravo! Excellent Post!
Hey, who’s trying to steal my identity?
Elster – “Welcome aboard” (as Mike and the Mad Dog are fond of saying). I hope you continue to visit, and comment. I know the “Modern Orthodox Judaism” has its own issues. This post was not intended as marketing materials. Notice that when I referenced “left wing” idea, I left “modern” in lower case. That was intentional. I didn’t mean just MO, I meant all strains of Orthodox Judaism that are willing to come to modern times, and not lock themselves into the past, which ever era that may be (1700’s, 1800’s, or even 1900’s pre-war, shtetl Europe). I just happen to think that any sect that can think for itself and evolve with the times will have a better chance of being successful (though, not sure how you judge religious “success”).
YBWY – cute.
Cee – Thanks.
LWY – Not to worry, he may have parodied your name, but at least not your ideas. Not sure why he made that connection, though.
I’m sure I’ll be back – I enjoy a good challenge. And anyone who likes Simmons can’t be too bad.
Noyam – I am glad to say (once again), I disagree.
The only way to protect Jewish youth today is by having our gedolim (pronounced: gedoylim) guide our every move. In fact, before posting this, I had three rebbeim approve this message. (Warning: They only approved the posting of the message; the reading of the message is still assur.)
Regarding music, this whole issue can be solved simply by creating a Vaad of Music. All songs need the appropriate hashgacha before being heard. Of course, music by a Jew would be okay, provided that a nominal fee is paid (simply to cover the few hundred dollars it costs to go to the stereo and listen to the song.)
You may say that this puts the decision in the hands of the rebbeim rather than the individual. This is totally not true. The individual still has to decide which hashgachas he holds by.
Simply put – music choices should be made by the rebbeim, who have been trained to handle such decisions by listening to thousands of monotone shirium.
But until that Vaad is established, here is a quick list of songs written by Yiddin (as in Jewish people not, Chas V’shalom, the song): Jewish Songs
This includes such classics as:
“White Christmas” by Irving Berlin
“Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” by Johnny Marks
“Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow” by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne
“Silver Bells” by Livingston and Evans
“The Christmas Song” (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) by Mel Torme
Anyway – I have to go practice the “Locomotion” (which is sure to become the kosher alternative to “Yiddin”).
Respectfully yours (unless the Gedolim feel such a salutation is assur),
–General R. Blie
So where will Lipa be on March 9th?
http://www.nybigevent.com/video.php
Um, I hope nobody is singing “Mishenichnas Adar”, either.
Not much to add here other than that normal frum people (whether MO, Yeshivish or Chasidish) will now view any of these “Kol Korehs” w/ a skeptical eye. By signing something so ridiculous the “gedolim” have lessened their standing in the eye of any reasonable person. People who follow this crap lock step deserve to be controled b/c they have no minds of their own. I hope such a ridiculous ban creates a schism in our communities so we can weed out the crazy among us.
The craziest part is that they let Lipa Margulies sign this ban. He perpetrated child abuse while allowing a known pedophile teach in his school for decades, attempting to cover it up for the sake of his yeshiva’s reputation and has the nerve to sign a ban on something as innocuous as a Jewish music concert – we live in troubled times.
HERES HOW THIS ALL WENT DOWN.
Some right wing extremist wacko (the same type who pushed the made up Indian hair agenda and got women in Israel to burn their wigs in the streets) got Hamodia to print this “made up” kol koreh on a full page.
I say “made up” because there’s no way all the rabbanim approved this kol koreh and missed the grammatical errors.
Once the kol koreh was printed, the rabbanim were in a catch 22.
If they say they didn’t sign it, this not only brings in to question every future kol koreh that may be issued, but also indicates that they are not in control of even their own words.
On the other hand none of them wanted to back the kol koreh publicly because it really is not something they felt needs to be banned in America at this point.
As anyone with a little sechel can realize of all the concerts, this was not the one to ban. When compared to the junk HASC puts out (mixed seating, non Jewish juggeling acts singing hava nagilah), Lipas separate seating concert could only be a step up. Even if the rabbanim would asser a concert they would not start with this one.
The problem was that as this issue gained momentum and exploded, with people making fun of rabbonim, then and only then, was the catch 22 resolved. The rabbonim needed to take a stance and protect kavod hatorah as well as the sanctity of daas torah.
Once they were in this situation, it became evident that taking a stance to protect kavod hatorah became more important than the downside of backing a kol koreh that they did not sign in the first place.
As it turns out assering concerts in America is only a byproduct of the rabbanim being forced in to taking a stance to protect daas torah.
Does anyone really think the rabbanim in america want to be busy with this now? Do you really think they want to be involved in addressing all the issues that result, including dealing with the status of all the concerts that are currently being advertised (Dachs, Shweky, Pruz, etc…)? Of course they realize that this there are far more important things they need to dedicate time to, but they were jammed in to a corner, and this was the only way out.
What has been covered up here was the fact that the Hamodia printed this fake kol koreh to push an agenda to the forefront, and was successful at shoving this agenda down the throats of all of us including the rabbanim themselves. Their plan worked so well, no one even realizes what went on, and they are laughing all the way to the mikvah…
Art, thanks for your contribution.
There are a couple of things that you brought up that I want to address:
If they say they didn’t sign it, this not only brings in to question every future kol koreh that may be issued, but also indicates that they are not in control of even their own words….The rabbonim needed to take a stance and protect kavod hatorah as well as the sanctity of daas torah.
This, of course, presumes the “sanctity of daas torah” a priori, which, if you can’t tell from my original post is, in and of itself, a problem.
Second, it also presumes the necessity for these ridiculous “kol korehs” to begin with. You mean if the Rabbis came out and said “we didn’t sign this, this is a fake” they might not be able to print more ridiculous signs that ban trivialities with no discernable reason in the future? You make that seem like a bad thing.
As anyone with a little sechel can realize of all the concerts, this was not the one to ban.
This may have been the most troubling line in your whole comment, to me. The language you use (and please correct me if I am wrong) seems to indicate that you believe that while this particular concert was not a worthy target, there are in fact concerts being held that should be banned. In fact you go so far as to indict the HASC concert for “(mixed seating, non Jewish juggeling acts singing hava nagilah).”
What, pray tell, if wrong with a juggling act, performed by a Jew or a non-Jew, at a concert? What is wrong with singing hava nagila? Just because the feeble minds tend to associate it with some lower level of frumkeit (being the stereotypical jewish song) the fact is, the words are still hebrew, and contain as much holiness as any other dreck Lipa sings.
And don’t even get me started on mixed seating. Have we strayed so far from normalcy, that even a concert, held for entertainment value, now has to have the same sterile, stay away from the opposite sex, fear of women pushed on it that we do? This isn’t shul!! It’s a concert.
And that’s the problem. These ideas, that are becoming more and more just acceptable and accepted convention in the “yeshivish” world are growing farther and farther from normalcy every day.
Thanks for your response.
I agree with your comments.
All the arguments presented by me are arguing that the way people perceive what happened here cannot be accurate, because from the rabbis prospective if they would have been involved from the get go it would not have gone down this way. For example if the rabbis really did want to assur a concert they would not chose lipas concert, they would one that raises more of THEIR red flags (ie. mixed seating, non Jewish performers).
Also, I’m not saying that kol korehs are a good thing I’m just saying that from the rabbis prospective they could not say it’s a fake because they need to protect their ability to issue these in the future. The point of my post is not whether or not kol korehs are good or bad the point is that this did could not have happened in the order that people perceive, the main culprit (the newspaper or the guy that got them to print the fake) in this whole thing is not even being discussed because the facts are so convoluted.
Art,
I understand what you mean. If you are right (and I have no reason to think that you aren’t), then there is an entirely different problem, which is essentially one step worse then what I was originally lamenting.
If daas torah has gotten to the point where people now use it as an offensive weapon, where they have no fear of using Rabbis’ names falsely, and can push their own agenda (whether truly religious and misguided, or clothed in religion but really about money and politics) using a fake kol koreh, then that entire segment of the community is in worse trouble than I thought.
And if the Rabbis are so worried about preserving daas torah for the future, so as to let this fraud continue without vehement denials, then it will just get worse.
Exactly.
Art,
Do you have any proof to your theory? How do you know this?
Art – Can you give us some insight as to your background so we know where this information is coming from?
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I do not have a source, it’s just my analyses of the situation. Otherwise the story just doesn’t make sense. Things like, does anyone really think that someone like R’ Margulis would want to be in the spotlight over something stupid like this?? There’s no way he would volunteer to be on this list. The only answer to this as well as other things I pointed out, can be that the list was put together without authorization
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“Things like, does anyone really think that someone like R’ Margulis would want to be in the spotlight over something stupid like this?? ”
You obviously don’t understand the mindset of megalomaniacs b/c this is precisely what someone like that wants.
If The Great Orthodox Schism of the 21st Century is significantly pushed forwards by this absurd concert ban situation, that just makes the whole thing so idiotic.
In response to “So now any combination of musical notes that was not originally put to paper by a Jew is forbidden? Assur? That’s it? ” … look at the flipside: Now “White Christams” and “Easter Parade” are kosher, because they were written by a Jew! Mazeltov!
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