Musings Regarding Kol Isha (Post Was Pending for 3+ Weeks...)

Tznius is one of those things I embraced and it felt like a homecoming of sorts. From a personal perspective tznius enabled me to reconcile my uniqueness as a woman and shrug of the modern societal film that coats many of us and pushes us towards being unisex. So when I first heard about kol isha, it was a surprise (since the female singing voice is everywhere it seems) but it did not seem unreasonable. Well, no more "unreasonable" than not opening an umbrella on Shabbos.

Or maybe this is because in my case, it doesn't really apply???

Last night, I had a performance where I played [the saxophone] in a band. While it's true I was playing along with 70+ other people, it was a mixed audience, mixed ensemble -- I feel that if I were a singer, I would be out of luck. In this aspect, I feel that Judaism forces us to accept ourselves for what we are; and also not to sugar coat things for what they are. Any musical instrument can be amazingly expressive in the hands of an expert. But it is not their voice...a part of their essence that you are hearing. The instrument is a machine, a tool. It is very powerful, but still an emulation.

So is it not possible that a woman can hear a man's singing voice, and it lead to the development of inappropriate thoughts?

The truth of the matter is our creator knows us so much better than we know ourselves. The very real issue that men in general have is to focus on tangibles. What do I have? What could be available to me? What can I see? Not that I know the exact answer, but why are man commanded to wear tzit-tzit and wrap tefillin while women are not? Wouldn't women also benefit from this physical reminders of piety?

What happens often times is that our lives are molded by our perceptions. If you perceive the laws of the Torah and the mores of Jewish living to be limiting, that has a tendency to manifest itself. If you see the Torah as giving you the tools to reach your full potential, then that also manifests itself. I will be the first to say that many secular women do not have an easy time taking on the mitzvot of tznius. It is so very, very hard to ignore what the larger society has instilled into women for so long -- that "you are equal to men". Real life is not based on equality and sanitation of what people are. No, the most interesting life is one where everyone plays their part, and they play it well.