Music in Shul, and Otherwise
Rabbi Moshe Taub for Ami Magazine, 2024
Sometimes it feels as if rabbis can never win.
Years ago, I approached a member of my shul and asked if something was bothering him. “You seem to be acting distant” I candidly said. “Well rabbi, to be honest, I am a little hurt. Why didn’t you call me last week? I wasn’t by davening for a few days and you never once reached out to see if everything was ok”.
I apologized, took his rebuke seriously, and pledged to do better in the future.
A year or two goes by, and I noticed he was once again missing for a few days. I tried calling, but after several attempts there was no answer. I left a message saying, “Hi, it is Rabbi Taub calling just to make sure everything is ok, as it’s not like you to be missing from shul. I hope you are healthy and that the family is well. I will try calling again later”.
About an hour later he was back in shul for mincha. I again sensed a coldness coming from him. “Is everything ok?” I asked following davening. “Well, rabbi, to be honest, I am a little hurt. IS this a high school?! I simply had strep. Do I need a note from my parents for being absent? Having my rabbi call to check in on me felt as though you were ensuring I had a good excuse for my absence”.
People are complicated and unpredictable, and we can only try our best.
Now, if one induvial can be difficult to satisfy, imagine how much more challenging it is to satisfy two different people, or a whole kehilla!
Several years ago, an organization arranged for a young rav -who is also a well-regarded singer/composer- to give a guest shiur in town. I was approached and asked if our shul could be the host venue. “Of course!” I responded, “Any ben Torah – and baal mesorah – rebbe, rav, or mechanech is welcome to teach Torah by us!”
The shiur took place on a Monday night and, for whatever reason, it was arranged to be given in our beis haknenneses. I still recall the beautiful Sfas Emes he shared, as well as his overall poignant message.
At some point, surprisingly to me, he pulled out his guitar and sang a soul stirring melody that brought his message home. As I was making away to my office afterward, a prominent member asked to speak with me.
“Rabbi, you allowed a guitar to be played inside a beis haknesses?!”
I replied by first agreeing with his central point.
Many poskim are indeed adamant that we should never allow any such instruments inside our battei teffilos (see shu”t Shevet HaLevi 1:25).
The Chasam Sofer was most strict about this (see shu”t Chasam Sofer oh’c 182-184 and c’m 190/192). This was not due only to the reformers of his time, but also because such instruments take away from the fear and holy joy we are to be aiming for in such holy spaces.
I then shared the flip side. “Just the other week we were together at so-and-so’s wedding.” “So? I don’t get the connection” “Well, the chuppah took place in a beis haknnesses (conducting chuppos in shul’s sanctuary is a separate, and lengthy, discussion), and the band certainly played music! Also, what about a hachansas sefer Torah? Don’t many shuls allow instrumnets to be played then, and inside a shul? Rather, the minhag among many (in chutz l’aretz) is to allow this, at times, so long as it is for a davar mitzvah, done only on rare occasions, and never during davening.
“While I do not know what I would have answered had the speaker asked me first, once he began, I decided to leave him be”.
Fast-forward to sometime later, during Covid, one of the local frum schools contacted me explaining that they were looking for a place to hold some classes that would allow for greater distancing. They were willing to pay a fair price to use our building during the daytime, but would need to utilize the beis midrash and beis haknneses as well.
“That is fine, and you may have access to all our rooms and areas. However, the beis midrash and beis haknesses are off limits unless being used for Torah classes”, I responded.
The reader should note the words of the Aruch Hashulchan that any mundane talk-even that which relates to parnassah-must be avoided in such holy spaces (siman 151:5). This time the pushback came in the other direction.
A board-member of that school called and calmly articulated his disappointed in my decision in not allowing something in such mekomos kodesh.
Being a knowledgeable man, he recited the view of Rav Yaakov Yechial Weinberg (d. 1966) in his shu”t Seridei Eish, sharing with me, “Many years ago, he allowed even concerts to take place in a shul! Even more so here when all that is being taught -other than Torah-would be math, history, science, etc.!”
Having been asked over the years to host lag ‘b’omer concerts, I was very familiar with this teshuvah. It has become the go-to argument from those who wish me to permit such events. I have learned that – often, although not always – those who marshal this source have rarely taken the time to look at it inside; to read what he actually put to parer (shu’t Seridei Eish, 1:16, new edition, Vaad L’Hotzaos Kisvei Rav Weinberg).
He closes this lengthy teshuva by organizing a final review of his psak. There, he writes:
“Frum concerts (Jewish music) [in a shul] is not something that is imbued with the spirit of chazal. However, if it can lead to a machlokos, perhaps then there is room for leniency.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement! However, more significant than this is the critical historical context he gives at the start of this teshuvah.
“This responsa was written during the tumultuous years under the Nazis ym”s….for many reasons, Jews are unable to gather anywhere, save for in their shuls…during this unique time when Jews are in pain…we have a mitzvah to be michazek them…”
Today, while we too need kosher chizuk, we have other places in which to enjoy them. Indeed, the entire concept of not listening to music during our present sefira mourning period is not brought in the classic early sources (cf. Leket Yosher in the name of the Terumas HaDeshen) and is, as the Minchas Yitzchak writes (1:111), a minhag:
“Even if not listening to instruments during this period is but an added chumrah…it should be enough for us not to permit it”.
Whether music during sefria, in our shuls, or the combination of the two, our minhagim are not to be challenged. I often share that challenging mesorah -both written and received-is akin, lahavdil ad lanetzach, challenging Waze: there is still a chance you may wind up at your destination, but it will be a far lengthier and circuitous route. While we can never make everyone happy all the time, and while we should always hear out voices of dissent, a rav must always resign himself to our mesorah. I ended that call by sharing another example. “In our generation, we are analogous to the person who is asked to move a Jenga piece on the 18th turn. The klal is in such a precarious time in our present galus that I just don’t want to as much as breath on it, let alone touch a single piece! Perhaps avoiding tampering with our mesorah will serve as a zechus to have our universal shul -Hashem’s and our bayis shlishi-return.
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