thwarted

[cellio]

Today is Lag b'Omer, which (goofy as it may sound) is a traditional day for haircuts. [1] I've been meaning to get a few inches of split ends trimmed off anyway, and I remembered seeing what's probably a suitable provider of said service a few blocks from where I work. So I wandered over there, only to find them closed

Comments

[mamadeb]

The hair-cutting thing, like the music thing, is very custom-driven. Last week, on my way home from Pakua,we were talking about this, since both of the other women keep their hair short and were overdue for haircuts. One has the custom of only getting one's hair cut on L'ag B'omer, the other just waited until it was over, so her appointment was a couple days later. The first suggested that the second call her rabbi and ask if that was appropriate.

The other major prohibitions - music and weddings - have a direct bearing on why my last name is Baker - my husband's original family name was "Beckerman". They were the town matzah bakers. We theorize that this was because, as the town musicians, they needed to lay in some cash before they had 49 days when they couldn't get work (other than the 33rd.)

Music is also very custom driven. It's a mourning custom, like no hair cutting - during the official mourning period, one doesn't listen to music. Some people interpret that as no music of any sort, whether live or recorded, vocal or instrumental. Others limit that to all instrumental, and I'm of the theory that only live instrumental music counts. And then, only if you are there deliberately for the music - sitting in a hotel lobby where there happens to be a piano player or waiting on a subway platform where someone plays the steel drums does not count.

But there is now a mini-industry of a capella groups in the O world - groups of young men. Because their recordings are without music, many consider kosher for the Omer. And this year, some rabbis are saying, "nope. Still bad."

I think they're brilliant. Because, you see, it means they can get gigs on Shabbat for bar mitzvahs - so long as their harmonies can be done without microphones.

(And, yes, they do resemble, from what I've seen, boybands. :))

[cellio]

Thanks for the information!

The first suggested that the second call her rabbi and ask if that was appropriate.

The second was waiting until after Lag b'Omer, or until after Shavuot? If the former, I suppose the first was questioning the status of days 34 through 49, as some people say "ok from Lag b'Omer onward" and others say "not ok except on Lag b'Omer specifically". Is that what was going on here?

I think they're brilliant. Because, you see, it means they can get gigs on Shabbat for bar mitzvahs - so long as their harmonies can be done without microphones.

I agree that they're brilliant, but this makes me twitch anyway. My problem is this: technically they are not violating halacha (assuming they walk to the gig, don't use microphones or instruments, get paid before or after but not then, etc), but in reality, they're pursuing employment on Shabbat. How is this permissible? Is it possible to interpret so much at the tree level that one misses the forest? Or are there only trees, and I'm wrong to look for a forest?

Yes, of course you can make a similar argument about rabbis: they're paid to be rabbis, and their job descriptions include tasks that must be performed on Shabbat. Those tasks are also a little more necessary than gigs at bar mitzvahs, so while it does strike me as strange, it doesn't produce the full-fledged twitching the paid singers do.

[mamadeb]

Yeah, that was confusing. Let me rephrase.

R and J both are overdue for haircuts. R made her appointment specifically for L'ag B'omer; J made hers for Thursday. R holds that one can only get one's hair cut on L'ag B'omer, and suggested that J talk to her rabbi about that in case he also rules that way.

As for working on Shabbat - rabbis get paid for what they do during the week. From the O perspective, though, there is no task that requires a rabbi on Shabbat, since the congregants normally lead the services and sermons are purely optional - or can be given by anyone. *I've* given one or two, in my admittedly odd O synagogue. And, of course, our new shul has a paid Torah reader, and others have paid cantors. A big source of income for many cantors is doing High Holy Day serices - a synagogue might even hire two, for both the morning and additional services.

Perhaps we're paying them for the extensive practice required.

And, it's not just the band who would be paid for "work" on Shabbat. It would also be the caterer and any waitstaff necessary for the Bar Mitzvah seudah.