7

What are Halachik reasons that some Poskim allow recorded music during the Omer, but others forbid all music?

Ken
  • 3,794
  • 22
  • 39
  • i am real interested in understanding were this came from and how we should approach it today, i was very confused i saw that no were in the mechaber is it mention only hair cut and wedding. if it is allowed durring the year then why would now be different. i was told by harav avichai that the reasons for not doing weddings and hair cuts as a so called continuation of the "chol hamoed that conects pesach to shavuos" there fore he said that it is allowed to play music wich is what gave me this question as i was brought up it was always tought as a prohibition thank you in advance if you could c – Shepard May 17 '16 at 14:10

1 Answers1

10

Rav Hutner allowed it because he felt there is no real true joy (simcha) from taped music that will bring you to dancing and since that is the reason for the prohibition, he allowed it during sefira.

By extension of the same logic, Reb Shlomo Zalman in his sefer on Pesach allows cantorial music (Chazunis) and classical music too; of course, he adds it is better to be stringent.

Reb Pinchas Scheinberg has the most intriguing approach and basically says that today most people are in depressive moods and need the music as a medical necessity ("refuah"), so music is never prohibited.

Just an interesting extension of the music on sefiras Haomer, I saw recently that Reb Sternbach does not allow acapella music, but does allow music for exercising.

MTL
  • 19,073
  • 4
  • 51
  • 161
SimchasTorah
  • 33,218
  • 1
  • 52
  • 184
  • Who else forbids it? – Bas613 Apr 18 '10 at 17:01
  • 1
    R' Moshe Feinstein basically prohibits music year-round, and he explicitly writes that there's no distinction between live or canned music. I've always heard that (at least for American Jewry), our custom to abstain from music during Sefira is to follow R' Moshe Feinstein's view for this period (though we don't the rest of the year). Hence a reason to prohibit live or canned. Rabbi Moshe Bleich also has a piece about music during Sefira in Tradition, c. ~2009. – Shalom Apr 18 '10 at 23:42
  • 3
    It is not Reb Moshe its a Halacha and a gemara in Kesbous. – SimchasTorah Apr 19 '10 at 00:03
  • The reason Shulchan Aruch does not discuss music during sefira is because as YS said, it is a Halacha that it is forbidden year round because of the destruction of the temple. However that being said what is mentioned as forbidden year round is "micholos urikudim", basically dance music. I heard that Rav Yasha Ber Soloveitchik permitted classical music during sefira and the three weeks (as well as year-round) because of this reasoning. The article in Tradition is excellent. – Yahu Apr 19 '10 at 03:13
  • Even though the Mehaber does forbid music all year long there are dissenting opinions. I remember seeing in a more recent reponsum that much of the Torah observant world relies on the dissenters. Hence allowing for concerts and other instances of non-wedding dancing and music. – Yahu Apr 22 '10 at 19:45
  • @SimchasTorah: I don't understand -- if it's an explicit gemara, then why do some poskim allow it? Obviously, just being a gemara is not sufficient to get a psak -- there is in intepretive step in between. According to you, is R. Moshe ever not just a gemara? He usually doesn't make stuff up on his own. – Curiouser Oct 19 '11 at 17:40
  • @SimchasTorah See the Halachipedia article for a discussion of talmudic and halachic sources on the matter of listening to music year-round. – Fred Apr 28 '14 at 02:05
  • 1
    Where is the source for R Pinchus Sheinberg? – termsofservice May 17 '16 at 18:32