Aviv Geffen
Aviv GeffenMiriam Alster/Flash90

This morning (Wednesday), Rabbi Dr. Yitzhak Ben David explained why he allowed the singer Aviv Geffen to perform on Independence Day despite still being in mourning over his father, renowned musician and author Yehonatan Geffen.

Rabbi Dr. Yitzhak Ben David, from the town of Tzur Hadassah, which is 12 kilometers southwest of Jerusalem, is the rabbi of the Shaari Zion Beit Midrash for Torah study. In a post he published on his Facebook account, he explained: "When Aviv Geffen approached me with his question about performing on Independence Day before the end of the seven days of mourning for his father, I was moved by the very request, by his desire and willingness to examine and deal with this dilemma with Halachic [Jewish Law] and Torah tools.

"But along with my pleasure, there was also embarrassment. And this is because this question immediately and clearly met a Halachic (as well as a moral, principled) barrier that seemed insurmountable to me. I was about to tell him - Aviv, I completely understand the difficulty, the complexity, and the need, but the truth is that I don't have too much to give you in this matter. At least in terms of Halacha - the prohibition is clear, definite, and unequivocal.

"But then, late at night, something happened. The answer came to me. Suddenly the whole issue was brought back before my eyes, and a completely new perspective was revealed to me. I suddenly remembered the ancient regulations of my ancestors - teachers and rabbis of Libyan Jewry.

"A magnificent and detailed religious ruling that was amended on the first Independence Day of the State of Israel, crafted artistically the order of prayer, the reading of the Torah, and in general - the religious and communal nature of Independence Day.

"And in this wonderful ruling, one of the sources of our community's pride, one of the central and unique motifs is the strong parallel it creates between Independence Day and... the holiday of Purim!

"The ruling includes, for example, a reference to Independence Day as a day of feasting and rejoicing and gifts to the eunuchs (!). Just like Purim. It's just that the Book of Independence replaces the Book of Esther in this case.

"And this point became the key to the entire ruling. For, in relation to Purim, the opinion has been accepted as Halacha that no mourning customs are practiced at all.

"In any case, based on the rulings of the rabbis of Libya, and also according to other Halachic positions that were revealed to me afterward, there is a strong basis for determining that even on Independence Day there is no place to practice mourning in public. I later discovered that this was also the ruling of my teacher and rabbi, Rabbi Amital of blessed memory, and I was very happy about it.

"Subsequently, the ruling was accompanied by additional reasons and considerations, mainly from the point of view of the damage to the livelihood of dozens of people from the musicians' team and the production, and foundations were also found for this in Halacha, as I detailed in my answer.

"Additional reasons were also added to this, not all of which can be listed here, and all of these together gave rise to the final ruling on its various components and clauses.

"So yes, the ruling of my predecessors, the rabbis of my sect, is the one that created for me the opening to a ruling that seeks to combine the Halacha with a unique moment within the contemporary Israeli reality and its challenges.

Rabbi Ben David concluded with the following words: "Thank you, Aviv, for convening this reunion with traditional and my roots for me; I also wish you a lot of reconciliation and reconciliation and inspiration in front of your roots, near and far."