Treif Music

I haven't read much about the recent hareidi ban on certain kinds of music but it seems to be another aspect of racist hareidism. As well, this has significant overtones of hareidi disdain for history and an acknowledgment of inevitable cultural cross-contamination.

Hareidi Jews haven't yet figured out where their clothes come from, their food, or their language. Nor are they able to perceive the influences of clothes styles on theirs, the influence of food from ambient cultures on theirs or the roots of their language in its development. Poor folly that they really think completely inside the box of 4 corners.

What do they know about the roots of the music that they take to be 'theirs'. Is it not likely that it is based on music in cultures we've lived with? Klezmer did not come from nowhere, chazzanim often use contemporary tunes, nobody writing music is deaf to ambient culture and it's musical influences.


You know the midrash that says that there is nothing other than the 4 cubits

Kvod Habriyot

I believe that rabbis have at their disposal some ways to deal with the agunah issues but have been fearful to be as creative as necessary to make these changes. It's clear that these scholars and not giving much value to the emotional, spiritual, and physical tolls that are taken while an agunah is 'bound'.

This points to the issues of 'kvod habriyot' that are discussed by Rabbi Daniel Sperber in his book "The Path of Halacha Women Reading the Torah: A Case of Pesika Policy. Here he shows how the concept of 'kvod habriyot' ('human dignity' or 'human rights'; literally 'honor of the creations') has been used throughout the ages as a factor in 'halachic policy'. He argues that this concept should surely be taken into consideration when dealing with some of our contemporary issues.
The major essay on this topic is translated into English here.

Shas Against Women?

See http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215331148028&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Jerusalem Post Article of today.

"According to the Israel Women's Network, there are approximately 10,000 agunot/ mesuravot get (women denied divorce) in the country. In my view, this is likely an understatement. After all, there is not a single aguna who is not also an abused spouse. Understandably, a man who uses the get as a threat against his wife, who holds her freedom over her head often for years or decades, does not get this way overnight. Abuse is gradual, left to fester through repeated patterns of verbal and emotional violence. According to a University of Haifa study, one out of every seven women in Israel is in an abusive relationship. We can all do the math. That's a lot of women likely to become agunot."

Powerful words. How do our faithful rabbanim respond to such allegations? Thoughts?