Mixed performance at Sultan's Pool, archive
Mixed performance at Sultan's Pool, archiveDor Pozaulo

Several senior Rabbis in haredi communities published a forceful letter warning against singing events intended for mixed audiences of men and women.

Under the headline "A Serious Breach in the Holiness of Israel", the Rabbis write, "The great Rabbis of Israel have already raised objections to various types of singing events that do not meet the approval of the Sages. We are pained to hear that joint singing events are being held for boys and girls, and even if carried out with a partition, it is certainly forbidden for a yeshiva student and a Beit Yaakov seminary student to participate in such an event."

The Rabbis add, "This is a most serious breach in the holiness of Israel, which every God-fearer is obliged to correct. If it happens, Heaven forbid, who can set it right?"

In the letter, signed among others by Rabbi Dov Lando and Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, it is written, "And the matter is clear and simple that a yeshiva student or a seminary student who goes to such a place distances themselves from affiliation with the heritage of the servants of the Lord, in the yeshivas and Beit Yaakov seminaries."

Finally, the Rabbis appealed to the heads of the yeshivas and the directors of the seminaries, "We ask plainly of the great ones, the heads of the yeshivas, and the Rabbis who direct the seminaries, to urge the necessary discipline in this matter, and not to treat this serious issue lightly or to give in."