Egged made a nice gesture. They often do. All on their own. No obligation, not required by the State or by the details of their contract..

Around holiday time Egged often puts nice messages on their bus displays wishing the public happy Pesach, a good week, a happy Sukkot, etc.

This year they came up with a new one. They were displaying on [some of] their buses the daily count of the Omer.

Very nice. A nice small touch that gives a Jewish atmosphere in the public sphere. It is also a nice reminder for someone who might have forgotten to count, but mostly it is just a nice touch.

After an article appeared on News1 criticizing Egged for the sefirat haomer display, Egged has decided to pull it.

Idan Yosef wrote "Yosef wrote that Egged needed to avoid presenting “irrelevant information” on its digital signs. “Public transportation cannot be allowed to present information that ignores entire populations,” he wrote. “Including a message that says 'Happy Holiday'” is problematic, “but it can be accepted, as long as it appears on Israel Independence Day and is shown on buses in hareidi population centers."
 source: INN

It is a shame that:
a. one stinking article can generate enough noise to make Egged decide to withdraw the program.
b. that some people are so against anything that appears too Jewish in the public sphere.

If a specific community does not want the signs, they can approach egged and have it stopped in their areas. There is no religious coercion involved.

In the meantime, you can write to Egged, if you are so inclined, on their contact page. And, someone started a Facebook page calling on Egged to bring back the Omer count on the buses.

The only question left open, perhaps for rabbinic consideration, is if they decide to restart the Omer display, can they do so with a bracha or only without because they missed a couple of days?

The Harlem Globetrotters are coming to Israel. Fortunately fans will get to enjoy the fabulous performances of the Globetrotters.  Unfortunately, fans will only get to enjoy one game.

The Globetrotters are coming to Israel for one night only, and will play at Nokia Stadium in Tel Aviv on Thursday night May 3, 2012.

May 3 is in the middle of sefiras ha'omer. Without discussing an actual psak, what is your opinion on whether or not it is appropriate to go to a Globetrotters game during sefira? Is all entertainment not allowed? I dont see the music played in the stadium as an issue, as I see such music as background music and as a a side issue, and not as the main event. People are not going in order to listen to the music. Maybe that does not matter. What do you think?

Rahm Emanuel was inaugurated as mayor of Chicago the other day. The Chicago Children's Choir sang Matisyahu's song "One Day" at the inauguration ceremony...

(sefira warning)



And just to add a version that is acapella, the Maccabeats has a video of themselves singing Matisyahu's One Day song...

Bechadrei quotes an interesting psak from Rav Yisrael Belsky about listening to acapella music during sefiras ha'omer.

According to what is quoted, Rav Belsky said that nowadays the public looks for all sorts of leniencies, including listening to vocal music even if it is processed digitally and sounds exactly like regular music. People, he says, have gotten used to the idea that everything can be replaced. There are rolls that are kosher l'pesach, and now stores sell music that is kosher for sefiras ha'omer, and people assume because it was sold in a frum store it is really kosher.

Rav Belsky then issued his psak sayign that one can only listen to vocal music where it only has men singing with no musical accompaniment and with no digital processing, which is what much of today's acapella music goes through.

As always, never trust a psak seen on the internet and not heard or seen firsthand. research before you change your own hanhaga.

The common custom is that listening to music during [parts of] the sefiras ha'omer period is prohibited. There are raging debates what is considered music, and what is prohibited/permitted. There are raging debates regarding whether or not digitally recorded music is considered music or if the prohibition only includes live music.

I have no problem with anyone choosing to rely on the more lenient opinions and choosing to listen to music, if they so choose. I personally do not, though I don't make a big deal if I go somewhere and they are playing music.
If you choose to not listen to music, I think the modern day acapella style music should be just as prohibited as regular music. It is recorded at a very high quality, and sometimes they are so good that it sounds like there is music. I don't see why this should be defined as music any less than regular music.

Rav Eliezer Melamed, the rav of Har Bracha and the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Bracha, has issued a psak that is making waves. It is only making waves, I think, because of our current societal culture that looks publicly for only chumros and rejects anything that might be taken as a leniency, at least in public psak.

The psak he is publishing says that during sefiras ha'omer normally there is a custom to prohibit the listening of music. Rav Melamed says that when a person is driving and needs something to help him stay awake at the wheel, he is allowed to listen to music to keep him alert.

Rav Melamed adds that this only applies in such situations, but outside of the car it is prohibited to listen to all music, be it live music or be it recorded music, while acapella music can be listened to.

The psak is not necessarily revolutionary, and is not even such a leniency. It makes sense as if one is tired while driving he should do whatever is necessary to keep himself awake and alert, and might be considered pikuach nefesh. There are far more lenient piskei halacha regarding listening to music during sefira, from digital recordings and the like, for a variety of reasons. The shulchan aruch does not even mention the prohibition of listening to music, though it does prohibit weddings and the commentaries talk about the simcha and dancing. The custom has become common to prohibit music even outside of weddings and parties, though the customs vary as to when and what types of music must be avoided.

A short while ago there was a notice in the news about the IDF enforcing policy about beards. Soldiers in the IDF are not allowed to have beards unless they meet certain requirements. The army rarely enforced this and similar rules.

In an effort to improve the level of discipline, the army has decided to enforce these rules. no more beards. No longer being unkempt. No more letting things go. but because we live in a Jewish country, and the IDF has plenty of religious soldiers and wants to keep good relations with them, they had to show some flexibility on that. So they came up with a set of exceptions. Religious soldiers are allowed to have a beard, as long as they get the approval of their commanding officer.

Along comes sefirat ha'omer when we show outward displays of mourning, such as not shaving and getting haircuts, and suddenly we have a problem. People who were able to shave as per the army rules until now, suddenly cannot. But they do not have permission to let it grow out.

Yisrael HaYom newspaper wrote today about an incident in the army in which 6 soldiers affiliated with the Conservative movement wished to get permission to not shave during sefirat ha'omer. The army rabbi refused to give them recognition as religious soldiers and therefore their request was rejected. the rabbi said that he does not recognize the Conservative Movement as religious and therefore they cannot be considered religious. (they have appealed and are waiting for a response, but in the meantime they have had to shave because of this ruling).

I do not understand this rabbi's position. I understand he does not want to give any tacit recognition of the Conservative Movement - just like most Orthodox rabbis have the position of not sharing a pulpit at events with Conservative/Reform rabbis so as not to be perceived as approving of them in their positions. He thinks that by approving the request of 6 individual soldiers, he will be perceived as approving of the whole Conservative Movement.

It was not the Conservative Movement asking permission to be recognized as religious soldiers. It was 6 individual soldiers. And if they asked if they could put on tefillin, would the army rabbi not allow them saying they are not religious so they are not allowed? If they asked for time for davening, would he reject that as well?

These were 6 individual soldiers. Since when do we reject the right of individuals, no matter their affiliation, to perform mitzvahs (granted, not shaving during sefira is not actually a mitzvah per se, but it is a widespread Jewish custom)? What right did this rabbi have to reject the request of an individual to follow Jewish tradition?

The rabbi should be applauding every occurrence of his soldiers trying to keep tradition and custom, and not rejecting it.

Do you not listen to music during the period of sefiras ha'omer? Why not?


The reason is obviously based on the death of the students of Rabbi Akiva. Because of that we have certain customs of mourning.

However, I was reviewing the halachos today of sefiras ha'omer and, lo and behold, it says nothing about music or entertainement. As a matter of fact, the only things discussed as things you should not do are; get married, get haircuts and shave.

I could find nothing about music. Nothing about not buying new clothes items. Nothing about refraining from things that bring about simha (joy or happiness).

We do find this discussed in the laws of the Three Weeks of mourning, so you cannot say it was obviously included, because otherwise it should not have been said there either (it should have been left to "obvious").

So why are we so strict about not listening to music and not buying new things? Is there a source for it or did we make it up?