Kol Ish

Yeshiva World reports (as does Ynet) about a new singer from Natanya named Eliyahu Haim Fayzakov. The twenty-year-old recently released his first album and was rapidly becoming a hit on chareidi radio stations.

Then, suddenly, his songs were no longer heard. Radio stations stopped playing them.

Was there a problem with the lyrics? Nope, they were fine. Was the music too "goyish?" Nope, that was OK too. So, what's the problem?

Well, the problem is that Mr. Fayzakov has a high voice, and his singing sounds like a woman's voice, which prompted calls from the listening audience. After listening to a clip of his singing (which can be found at the Ynet article I linked to above), I would have to agree that his singing could easily be mistaken for that of a woman.

But so what? The bottom line is that he *is* a man, and there is no more halachic problem listening to him singing than if he had long lustrous hair, was married and walked around without a sheitel. As long as the radio station identifies him by name (he has a man's name), he should be fine.

I'm kind of curious why people have no problem with imitation cheeseburgers, imitation bacon bits, sheitels that resemble real hair and any of the hundreds of other "kosher-equivalent" alternatives but seem to have a problem with this singer. I'd say that the items on my list are far worse in terms of violating the spirit of the law (while staying true to the letter) than listening to Mr. Fayzakov sing.

Now, to be fair, it should be pointed out that this seems to be a grassroots campaign against him. I'm not aware of any chareidi rabbi who has weighed in on the matter one way or the other. Hopefully, one of them will speak up and set the matter straight.

The Wolf