Listening to Secular Music that is Bible Based In the Bathroom

We all know the halacha that states that divrei Torah should not be thought about while in the bathroom. However, I'm curious about secular material based on divrei Torah.

This question came to hanut me this past week, I was listening to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on my MP3 player while working around the house. At one point I needed to go to the bathroom and, without thinking about it, continued to listen to Joseph.

Now, I don't want to say that Joseph is a "davar sheb'kedusha;" I'm fairly certain it's not. But it can very easily lead one to think about the personages and the story involved -- and that clearly DOES count as divrei Torah.

So, where does one draw the line between the secular and permitted and the holy and the not permitted? When the secular and the holy are sort of mixed in this fashion, where is the dividing line.

(Related question: Can one discuss think about the recently canceled NBC series Kings in the bathroom).

The Wolf

Parents Playing Favorites

I find it very interesting that Ya'akov, who grew up in a household where parents played favorites (with some bad results), chose to play favorites with his kids as well, again with results that had severe consequences for his descendants for hundreds of years.

Another consequence of his actions, of course, was the creation of this number. :)

(Warning: women dancing in this video... so don't click if it offends)

(As many of you know, I love Broadway musicals... and Joseph is one of my favorites).

The Wolf

Our Wicked, Wicked Shabbos

My wife has a good friend who is a big fan of the Broadway show Wicked. Wicked is the story of the Wicked Witch of the West (the green one) and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North (the one in white) before the events of The Wizard Of Oz.

We were due to have this friend over for Shabbos, so eeees, in her incredibly thoughtful style, decided to truly have a "Wicked" Shabbos and have our house resemble the Emerald City. She went out and bought a green tablecloth (overlaid with white so that our children will still be able to get a good shidduch :) ). Green plasticware and napkins were bought for the occassion. I was able to find green roses and have them shipped to the house. The water under the oil in the lachter (candleabra) was colored green, as were the guests' shabbos candles. The desert (shown on the table) was green Jello (the kosher Jello substitute, actually). Green liqueur was obtained for the occassion. Lastly, the guest stayed in my daughter's room where she was supplied with green sheets and a green blanket. My wife and daughter both wore their green robes, while I lamented the fact that I don't own a green tie.

One of the nicest parts of the meal, I thought, wasn't inspired by Wicked, but by another Broadway musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The first number of the play is called "Any Dream Will Do." (sample here) It's a song that really makes no sense whatsoever (IMHO) and adds nothing to the play but merely acts as a filler piece. One thing it does have, however, is a nice tune and interplay between the singer (Joseph) and the chorus of children. What we discovered is that D'ror Yikra goes very well with this tune, especially with the kids doing the chorus parts. Our Wicked friend told us that she thought it was quite nice. Of course, we've also shamelessly ripped off MBD in his ripping of Close Every Door and applied the words of M'nucha V'Simcha to it. In the end, we may very well have a complete Broadway review of Z'miros!

Of course, there are those who will view this as sacriligious. Truth be told, however, there is probably very little that is truly and uniquely Jewish in what passes for Jewish music today. Music is one of those things that tends to bleed through cultures and tunes that were uniquely identified with one group tend to be adopted by other groups and adapted to their own needs and made their own. I would be highly surprised if most of today's Jewish music didn't have it's origins and roots in non-Jewish music of various times and places.


The Wolf