Kol Isha

ByBracha Gewirtz

My project will talk about Kol Isha, the prohibition for a man to hear a woman sing. I chose this because as a child, it was something I vaguely knew about but wasn't careful with. Today, though I am much more careful, I still don't understand it, so I'm hoping that this project will help me with that.

דברים כ״ג:ט״ו

(טו) כִּי֩ יְהוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ מִתְהַלֵּ֣ךְ ׀ בְּקֶ֣רֶב מַחֲנֶ֗ךָ לְהַצִּֽילְךָ֙ וְלָתֵ֤ת אֹיְבֶ֙יךָ֙ לְפָנֶ֔יךָ וְהָיָ֥ה מַחֲנֶ֖יךָ קָד֑וֹשׁ וְלֹֽא־יִרְאֶ֤ה בְךָ֙ עֶרְוַ֣ת דָּבָ֔ר וְשָׁ֖ב מֵאַחֲרֶֽיךָ׃ (ס)

Deuteronomy 23:15

Because Hashem is always amongst us, we have to ensure that we keep our environment pure, so that Hashem shouldn't find something unbecoming with us.

אמר שמואל קול באשה ערוה שנאמר כי קולך ערב ומראך נאוה

What would be called ervah, like is mentioned in the passuk above?

According to the Gemara in Brachos, 24a , Shmuel says that based on the passuk in Shira HaShirim, "For your voice is sweet and your appearance lovely," the voice of a woman is ervah.

What are the sources for these 2 gemarot?

We know the prohibition as the singing voice of a woman, but this seems to say that Shmuel holds that the speaking voice of a woman isn't allowed. The next Gemara will clarify if that is truly his position.

נשדר ליה מר שלמא לילתא א"ל הכי אמר שמואל קול באשה ערוה אפשר ע"י שליח א"ל הכי אמר שמואל

The idea of Kol Isha is also mentioned in the Gemara in Kiddushin 70a, where R' Nachman asked R' Yehuda to send regards to his wife. R' Yehuda then shut him down by saying, "Shmuel says that the voice of a woman is considered nakedness and you can't speak to her." From this we learn that Shmuel holds that the actual speaking voice of a woman is prohibited.

What does that mean, that the voice of a woman is considered nakedness? Are men and women not allowed to speak? Practically we know that can't be true because men and women speak all the time. Furthermore, what about a man's wife?

יש ליזהר משמיעת קול זמר אשה בשעת ק"ש הגה ואפי' באשתו אבל קול הרגיל בו אינו ערוה

The Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 75:3 codifies the law differently than Shmuel. It says that you should refrain from hearing the singing voice of a women during zman krias shema- meaning that speaking is ok. Elsewhere, he will say that it is not only during Shema. (The Rama here says that even his wife's voice is ervah when she's singing during this time, but the voice that is regular, i.e. her speaking voice, is not. )

ואסור לשמועה קול ערוה

The Tur in Even HaEzer 21 says, as we already know from the Gemara, that a woman's voice is considered nakedness.

איתא דבערוה אסור לשמוע ולהסתכל, וכן באשתו אסור לקראת ק"ש כנגדו, אבל באשתו אין אסור לשמוע קולה

The ב"ח comments on the Tur here and clarifies, saying that in terms of a man's wife's voice, he cannot listen to her sing in front of him when he is davening or saying Shema, but the rest of the time he is permitted to hear her, singing or not. This is the same idea as the Rama mentioned above.

אבל קול פּנויה או קול אשתו מותר אלא בעת תפלה ודוק' קול ערוה אסור אבל קול דיבור שלה מותר

Furthermore, the Bais Shmuel, a commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, says on the same siman in Even HaEzer: even the voice of a single girl, or a man's wife, is allowed except during davening. He also makes sure to state that the only voice that is ervah is the singing voice, not the speaking voice. This is a new and slightly radical idea because it includes single girls.

So is the singing voice of a woman only prohibited during Shema? It can't be so, because they there would be no need to say that even his wife's voice is ervah during shema, because that means that usually her voice is not assur, while other women's voices are. Additionally, we know that practically, we never sing in front of men, davening or not. Where could this idea come from?

אמר שמואל קול באשה ערוה שנאמר כי קולך ערב פירוש לשמוע ולא לענין ק"ש.

The Rosh in Brachos 3:37 says that the original Gemara is not only talking about during Shema or davening, but rather, it applies in every situation.

So the general consensus is that a woman's singing voice is ervah, and during Shema, even a man's wife's voice is ervah. What do our gedolai hador have to say? As found in an article by Rabbi Chaim Jachter aptly named, "The Parameters of Kol Isha", it asks if רגילות takes away the prohibition, since female singing is everywhere nowadays. Rav Ovadia Yosef says that in no way does it lessen the problem- he says that if both the Gemara and the Shulchan Aruch talk about this halacha, then we have no right to say it doesn't apply. When asked about females singing on the radio, one of today's most common questions, he felt that as long as the listener has never even glimpsed a picture of the singer, alive or dead, then listening is permitted. (Rabbi Jachter cites Teshuvos Yabia Omer 1:6).

At the end of this project, Kol Isha is still very hard for me. The difference is now I know the reasons, the different opinions, and how our poskim feel. I understand, and the mitzvah doesn't bother me like it used to. This mitzvah isn't saying, "Because a man can't hear me sing, I can't sing," but I don't sing because this is a complex and hard halacha for men, and we have the concept of לפני עור. This project, I felt, was actually very beneficial in that it taught me how to look up sources better, how to learn them and extrapolate from them. I'm glad I did this- and in fact, I might actually do one on my own about a different topic! I feel much more knowledgeable, and feel ready to take on any skeptics and hit them with the facts. Thank you!

Excellent Work! 98