A sad realization

[theyellowhobbit]

Passover starts the Omer. There's a prohibition on listening to instrumental music during the Omer. That means 33 days (well 32 since there's yom ha'atzmaut, maybe really 25 since some are yom tov or shabbat anyways. still...) without Decemberists!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Does anyone know of any acapella group that sings Decemberist songs? Does anyone have a connection with Colin (the lead singer) and can have him come sing to me without his guitar? Does anyone know a good way to get a heter (permission, kinda like a get out of jail free card) to listen to Decemberists mp3s?

I think I'll go insane. I'm addicted to them. Very, very addicted.

Comments

[prezzey.livejournal.com]

Well my rabbi says the prohibition doesn't extend to recorded music, but you still have to ask yours...

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

I guess the question is which rabbi do I ask? If I ask my Conservative rabbi, he'll for sure allow it, if I ask my Orthodox rabbi, I'm not sure what he will say. But I'm always hesitant to ask my Conservative rabbi for a psak because he's always more lenient

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Yom ha'azmaut doesn't cancel omer. It's not even a Rabbinic celebration. However, while the counting starts Tuesday night, the prohibition doesn't happen until after Passover.

Also - I don't know if this helps, but a lot of people hold that only *live* music is prohibited. Recorded or transmitted music doesn't count. (This is us.) Others hold that recorded does count, but only if it's out loud. If you listen via earphones, you're all right. (I find that one confusing, but there's at least one person on my flist who holds that way.)

[masteraleph.livejournal.com]

"Yom ha'azmaut doesn't cancel omer."

That depends entirely on who you ask. Rule of thumb: if you community says Hallel with a bracha, it probably does lift prohibitions. If it says hallel without a bracha, it's up in the air. If it doesn't say it, it probably doesn't.

As for the omer, keep in mind that Rosh Chodesh Iyar lifts those prohibitions as well.

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much what I was going to say, except in less detail, just more that the OCP plays music on Yom haatzmaut at their barbeque/auction every year.

[spazerrific.livejournal.com]

...no but TCFI's CD is coming out soon if you want me to send you one (and by me send you one, I mean you buy one)...

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

How much is the CD?

[spazerrific.livejournal.com]

$10 + shipping. Shipping is TBD, depending on how heavy the package winds up being. We sent off the master today, so we should have them in like two weeks!

[thedwardler.livejournal.com]

I'm listening to Music for the next 33 days! woot!

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

Yeah, yeah, brag about the fact that you're so much cooler than I am because you're not Jewish...

Except I didn't have to celebrate Lent and give stuff up for 40 days. And theoretically I can have meat whenever I want (except that the dining hall is dairy right now...and there are 9 days in the summer where I can't have meat either). Maybe I should make a steak...except that all my food is gone. But rest assured I will be having meat tomorrow night!

[ranka.livejournal.com]

I don't have to do either, since I'm agnostic. :-)

What a peculiar ban, though. Why are instruments forbidden?

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

Agnostic? As in agnostic Jew, agnostic Christian, or agnostic something else entirely?

It's a sign of mourning (in this case, for the death of 33 disciples of Rabbi Akiba, who were killed in the 2nd Jewish Revolt I think, which would be 135 CE.) Though it might be that the Rabbi Akiba thing was added later, and it's just because the holiday used to be counting the days before the harvest was due, and this was a serious time, and bad weather could screw up the crop and leave people without grain or something. I'm not really an expert on the Omer.

There are a bunch of different things in Judaism that are forbidden while in mourning. Of course, there are different degrees of mourning. Like the first 7 days after the death of a close relative you can't go to work, you can't cook (people from the community bring you food), you can't eat meat, etc. This is less serious than that, but live instrumental music is definitely among the prohibitions (since it's something happy.) Acapella doesn't count. Hopefully recorded [instrumental] music doesn't fall into the forbidden category. I guess since it's not universal, I can just be lenient, especially since I need sanity in order to do the rest of my work, and music helps me with that. (Though I did get an acapella CD from Kol Sasson, a group at UMD that came here to perform.)

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

BTW, I love that icon.

[ranka.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :-)

Agnostic as in raised Christian (Lutheran to be specific), and then rejected the whole Judeo-Christian religious tradition, and now agnostic in general, leaning towards atheism.