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Last update - 23:49 23/07/2008
IDF rabbi: We should exempt religious troops from events where women sing
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Jewish world, Jewish law 

The Israel Defense Forces' head of Halacha (Jewish Law) has said that religious soldiers should be exempt from participating in army ceremonies that include appearances by female singers.

Rabbi Maj. Menachem Perle's stated this after a female singer from the army band sang a number of songs at a rehearsal for the final ceremony for a course of soldiers from the Kfir infantry brigade, which includes the religious Nahal Haredi battalion and a number of platoons of students from Jewish seminaries.

One of the soldiers present at the ceremony later posted a question to the military rabbi via the Web site Yeshiva, asking if it was permissible by Jewish law to remain in the audience during the appearance of the female singer.
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He also pointed out that a number of religious soldiers had left the hall when the female singer came up to the stage during the ceremony.

Perle said the prohibition on listening to female singers was based on the halachic ruling that kol haisha arve (the voice of a woman is shameful, or sexual).

"According to the letter of the law there is no way to permit religious soldiers to listen to a female singer, even in a military ceremony," Rabbi Maj. Perle said.

"However, we permit begrudgingly for the professional commander and officer whose participation in the ceremony is essential, to stay in the hall during the appearance," Perle said.

Perle said there is no justification to force religious officers and soldiers to be present when female singers appear, or to compel them to stand there in opposition to religious observance.

"The organizers of the ceremony should be conscious of the problem and should find a way to be creative to a solution of freeing religious soldiers from the general ceremony or part of it... or by means of changing the substance of the ceremony itself," Perle said.

In response, MK Avshalom Vilan (Meretz) sent an angry letter to IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, calling Perle's behavior scandalous and arguing that it humiliates women.

The Meretz MK requested that Ashkenazi intervene personally in the matter.

"This stands in opposition to the directives of the General Staff and constitutes an affront to the intelligence and casts a stain on the reputation of 52 percent of the population," Vilan told Haaretz.

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      1.   rabbi 22:36  |  chawa 23/07/08
      2.   if the army really wanted Orthodox Jews... 22:46  |  Aaron 23/07/08
      3.   kol haisha arve 22:49  |  Bartley Kulp 23/07/08
      4.   IDF, wemen and haredi soldiers 22:55  |  amihai 23/07/08
      5.   `Shameful` is the wrong translation 22:57  |  Avi 23/07/08
      6.   Reply to # 1 22:59  |  Joseph 23/07/08
      7.   chief rabi 23:01  |  amihai 23/07/08
      8.   When a religious directive should not be obeyed 23:04  |  Jeremy 23/07/08
      9.   tolerance for everyone except 23:05  |  fred 23/07/08
      10.   to aron 23:07  |  amihai 23/07/08
      11.   Aron #2 23:07  |  Jack 23/07/08
      12.   gazing at women etc.... 23:17  |  Sarah 23/07/08
      13.   Chawa, whose coersion is it? 23:18  |  Zev Davis 23/07/08
      14.   Army Service 23:27  |  Tom 23/07/08
      15.   IDF RABBI WOMEN SINGING 23:28  |  WOLF 23/07/08
      16.   Rabbi flouts Scriptural tradition 23:31  |  hala 23/07/08
      17.   Here we go again...... 23:50  |  Benjamina 23/07/08
      18.   What sort of "law" is that...?! 23:54  |  Esther 23/07/08
      19.   Rabbis and Politicians 00:31  |  Fossil 24/07/08
      20.   Esther, you still don`t get it 00:32  |  Zev Davis 24/07/08
      21.   Reinstall Spinoza, and Excommunicate this Idiotic Rabbi 00:58  |  Anti-Religion 24/07/08
      22.   The IDF needs a Jewish rabbi 01:04  |  Nathaniel 24/07/08
      23.   Women`s singing 01:19  |  leon 24/07/08
      24.   Shabbat Shel Kolot Nasiem 01:28  |  Moshe 24/07/08
      25.   Women singing is erotic 01:47  |  SL 24/07/08
      26.   zeev 01:48  |  chawa 24/07/08
      27.   Rigid stupidity 02:19  |  Miransky 24/07/08
      28.   prohibition on listening to female singers 02:44  |  Paul Cohen 24/07/08
      29.   How long before? 03:21  |  Mark Lincoln 24/07/08
      30.   Get a Life 03:22  |  Eugenio 24/07/08
      31.   Go No 1 Response. The rabbi should be a muslim 03:23  |  Eugenio 24/07/08
      32.   News for the IDF Rabbi. 03:25  |  Maureen Ann 24/07/08
      33.   Joseph - get real 03:30  |  Eugenio 24/07/08
      34.   religious people 03:41  |  realist 24/07/08
      35.   Ear Plugs - simple solution 04:30  |  Chaim 24/07/08
      36.   signs of the future 05:33  |  potobac 24/07/08
      37.   A woman`s voice 05:38  |  Sharon 24/07/08
      38.   - 05:54  |  fred 24/07/08
      39.   Or hide these "immodest" women under burkas. 06:00  |  Fortuna Benmayor 24/07/08
      40.   realistic 06:11  |  sweis Melbourne 24/07/08
      41.   Solution is simple. 06:56  |  The Archives 24/07/08
      42.   religion 07:01  |  colin 24/07/08
      43.   Let the Heredi Whiners take a walk! 07:14  |  DesMnsDave 24/07/08
      44.   Is there fredom of religion/conscience in Israel? 08:43  |  Chaim 24/07/08
      45.   Peaceful coexistence is more important than Halacha 11:04  |  Protest 24/07/08
      46.   Rabbi Maj. Menachem Perle is not fit to serve in the IDF 11:35  |  SJ 24/07/08
      47.   Sarah Petach Tikva 23:20  |  Cyasher 24/07/08
      48.   Erva means sexual, NOT shameful 16:20  |  Moshe 27/07/08
      49.   Haredim live clean lives 00:04  |  Yaakov 07/08/08
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