The Committee Against Concerts and Anything Fun

This whole "banning concerts" thing is not going away as fast as some people thought it would.

After Lipa's big concert was recently banned, and he caved in and canceled the performance, many people thought it was a one time event, specifically targeting Lipa because of his style.

I did not think so at the time, as experience has shown that when "they" get their way, "they" become emboldened and demand more. It is never a one time thing for these committees and organizations that fight for Purity of the Camp in whatever field they might specialize in (be it music, cellphones, internet, shabbos, tznius, whatever).

Chabad has scheduled their annual concert for tonight in Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv (I was at last years concert, but the couple we went with then did not invite us this year, so either they are going with other people or they are afraid of the ban and are not going - he is a reader so I will take this opportunity to call him a scaredy cat). The stars of the show are MBD and Shweckey.

Chabad has generally stayed out of the various bans and cherems. They run their own system and are usually oblivious to what these various vaads say. After all, the various vaads all ban Chabad anyway because of their own issues, so why should they care what the vaads say about Chabad functions?

Yet this year, the Committee Guarding Sanctity and Education has come out swinging. They decided to ban the Chabad concert and pressure Shweckey and MBD into canceling their participation. The concert is fully separated between men and women.

So why the ban? I doubt anybody really knows. In the end it is because the guy running the vaad does not like something. He says what happens outside the stadium is horrible - the guys and girls meet there. He says he has pictures from previous concerts of haredi guys and girls doing dreadful things. At this rate, he should ban hotels, houses, cars, parks and anything and everything else because dreadful things are sometimes done there. Is that the reason - I don't know. That is an excuse he uses as a claim. He also says these concerts are not the way of the frum world - if you want simcha, come to an event at Yeshivas Chevron or the Yeshiva of Vishnitz and you will see real simcha. These concerts are not real simcha. So he is against concerts.

The other day, Yaakov Shweckey responded to the threats during an interview with Menachem Toker (the scheduled emcee for tonight's event, and a popular Radio show host that deals with the Jewish Music world). The interview is not yet online - on menachem Tokers website it says the interview with Shweckey will hopefully be online today, but as of a few minutes ago it still has not been uploaded.

Shweckey said he has a letter from rav Ovadiah Yosef, his Rebbi, allowing him to participate in the concert (the letter from Rav Ovadiah can be see below). He claims, "These people will never be happy. After Rav Ovadiah, they want all the other Rabbonim to sign and then their Sanhedrin will approve. It is all shtuyot."
"If somebody can find a psul in the concert of me and MBD, either he has a problem, or somebody is deceiving him. Nothing will move me from my decision to participate [in tonight's concert], just like nothing stopped me from participating in the concert at Teddy Stadium, after Chacham Ovadia has permitted me to."

When Toker asked Shweckey that maybe the Vaad members are doing this with pure intentions following instructions from their own rebbeim, Shweckey responded, "They are not activists of the public. They are "simcha stoppers". They do not have the concept of "l'shem shamayim". Maybe they did not like my last album (entitled "Lshem Shamayim")." "They are unsuccessful in getting involved in Avraham Fried concerts and others, so they try me next."

Somebody involved in the music industry in Israel confirmed Shweckeys claim. He said that since the last concert of MBD in Israel was canceled, there were attempts at having other concerts, even only for men, with MBD. Even after the Gerrer Rebbe approved of it, these askanim opposed it to the point that the financiers of the concert backed out. He says they will never approve a concert, so the only way to deal with it is the way MBD did for many years - ignore them. He suspects Lipa will never seriously perform again. He will put out albums and perform at weddings and small events, but never will he do a serious concert. This is because he gave in to them once already.

Mordechai Blau, the head of the Committee against all Concerts and Anything Fun (not the official name of the committee), responded sharply to Shweckey's claims.

Blau is not backing down and he is starting now with threats. He says anybody who shows up to tonights concert will be photographed. His picture will be passed on to the relevant parties, be it Rosh Yeshiva, Seminary head, etc.

Blau is very upset at MBD, claiming they had a silent agreement and now MBD is openly breaking it. Blau has been meeting intensely with MBD's mentors and rebbeim and is hoping to see results immediately. Blau threatened MBD directly saying if he does not cancel his participation, they will forbid the music stores from selling his albums, they will ban his concerts and any personal appearances before Rabbonim, they will teach children in schools about the horrible stumbling block he took part in.

When asked about Rav Ovadiah Yosef's letter supporting Shweckey's participation, Blau said he doubts Rav Ovadiah even saw the letter. he brought the letter to Rav Wosner who said this is a concert like any other and he doubts Rav Ovadiah signed such a letter.

Rav Ovadiah Yosef's letter can be seen here:

So for any of you who thought the ban was a one time thing, this is only the beginning. This is what happens when these askanim get some power.