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poptimists(In which I mostly try to get people to start using the term frum rock. It means: Rock music popularized in the Charedi Orthodox community.)
The big news in Frum Rock this week is that Orthodox Rabbis from places like Lakewood and Boropark have banned an event called The Big Event (that is literally the name. no points for creativity). The show was to take place in Madison Square Garden and feature the vocal talents of such frum rock stars as Sheya Mendlowitz, Shloime Gertner, and Lipa Schmeltzer. Then, from all accounts, some agitators complained to Rabbinical leaders that the show would lead to fraternization between young men and women. (The show would actually have separate seating -- the concern was about fraternization in the hallways.) As many people have pointed out, the ban basically bans all Jewish music concerts.
Anyway, as it goes, the story festered for about two weeks in the J-blogosphere before it was picked up by the Jersualem Post and then, today, in the NY Times. While my thesis adviser called the Rabbinical move Taliban'esque (they banned music too), it seems a bit self-defeating to me. The Taliban had actual authority over their community. The authority that the Orthodox Rabbinical movement has is mostly through influence. I can't imagine that banning music won't backfire, and reduce the trust some of the people have in their Rabbis.
In particular, I thought about Attali, who writes, "Since it is a threat of death, noise is a concern of power; when power founds its legitimacy on the fear it inspires, on its capacity to create social order, on its univocal monopoly of violence, it monopolizes noise. Thus in most cultures, the theme of noise, its audition and endowment with form, lies at the origin of the religious idea." But by rejecting that concern - by rejecting the use of noise, the authority is abdicating its own power. They should be embracing people like Schmeltzer and Gertner (because at least they aren't Nirvana and Guns & Roses). But by delegitimizing even those Chassidic artists, the authorities are equivlicating them with Kurt Cobain and Axel Rose. Why listen to Schmeltzer instead of Metallica if they are both banned? The distinctions disappear, as does the Rabbi's monopoly on people's listening.
Not to make this go on longer than it has already, but one other thing struck me reading this yesterday. "A marriage registrar given a letter from an Orthodox rabbi abroad certifying that a person is Jewish is now expected to check with the office of Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, which maintains a list of diaspora clergy whose letters are to be trusted. The list is not publicly available. If the rabbi who wrote the letter is not on the list, the applicant is asked for other proof or referred to the rabbinic courts." and "'The rabbinate in Israel has put the Orthodox rabbinate' — meaning Orthodox rabbis in the United States — 'on the same level as Reform rabbis,' Angel said." So there's this competitive aspect as well, where United States Orthodoxy needs to start banning stuff so as to compete with the more religious Rabbis in Israel. This ban on Orthodox concerts seems to be an attempt to one-up each other.
Thoughts?
Some youtube links of the performers who were banned:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PxLcxRPexio
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8evKR5ZfvO0
The big news in Frum Rock this week is that Orthodox Rabbis from places like Lakewood and Boropark have banned an event called The Big Event (that is literally the name. no points for creativity). The show was to take place in Madison Square Garden and feature the vocal talents of such frum rock stars as Sheya Mendlowitz, Shloime Gertner, and Lipa Schmeltzer. Then, from all accounts, some agitators complained to Rabbinical leaders that the show would lead to fraternization between young men and women. (The show would actually have separate seating -- the concern was about fraternization in the hallways.) As many people have pointed out, the ban basically bans all Jewish music concerts.
Anyway, as it goes, the story festered for about two weeks in the J-blogosphere before it was picked up by the Jersualem Post and then, today, in the NY Times. While my thesis adviser called the Rabbinical move Taliban'esque (they banned music too), it seems a bit self-defeating to me. The Taliban had actual authority over their community. The authority that the Orthodox Rabbinical movement has is mostly through influence. I can't imagine that banning music won't backfire, and reduce the trust some of the people have in their Rabbis.
In particular, I thought about Attali, who writes, "Since it is a threat of death, noise is a concern of power; when power founds its legitimacy on the fear it inspires, on its capacity to create social order, on its univocal monopoly of violence, it monopolizes noise. Thus in most cultures, the theme of noise, its audition and endowment with form, lies at the origin of the religious idea." But by rejecting that concern - by rejecting the use of noise, the authority is abdicating its own power. They should be embracing people like Schmeltzer and Gertner (because at least they aren't Nirvana and Guns & Roses). But by delegitimizing even those Chassidic artists, the authorities are equivlicating them with Kurt Cobain and Axel Rose. Why listen to Schmeltzer instead of Metallica if they are both banned? The distinctions disappear, as does the Rabbi's monopoly on people's listening.
Not to make this go on longer than it has already, but one other thing struck me reading this yesterday. "A marriage registrar given a letter from an Orthodox rabbi abroad certifying that a person is Jewish is now expected to check with the office of Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, which maintains a list of diaspora clergy whose letters are to be trusted. The list is not publicly available. If the rabbi who wrote the letter is not on the list, the applicant is asked for other proof or referred to the rabbinic courts." and "'The rabbinate in Israel has put the Orthodox rabbinate' — meaning Orthodox rabbis in the United States — 'on the same level as Reform rabbis,' Angel said." So there's this competitive aspect as well, where United States Orthodoxy needs to start banning stuff so as to compete with the more religious Rabbis in Israel. This ban on Orthodox concerts seems to be an attempt to one-up each other.
Thoughts?
Some youtube links of the performers who were banned:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PxLcxRPexio
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8evKR5ZfvO0
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no subject
Date: 2008-03-04 09:33 am (UTC)And while we're on the subject of MOTs*, I saw Yoav (http://www.myspace.com/yoavmusic) on Friday, as the support act for Underworld's show in London. He's really good, you should check him out.
*
no subject
Date: 2008-03-04 02:03 pm (UTC)(I assume that part of the appeal of such rules is that they're difficult.)
no subject
Date: 2008-03-04 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-05 03:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-05 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-04 10:25 pm (UTC)headlines i never thought i'd see
Date: 2008-03-04 10:31 pm (UTC)