Ophir Ben-Shetreet, the Girl with an Angelic Voice and the Issue of Kol Isha

Ophir Ben-Shetreet is just 17 years old. She’s from Ashdod. She is a contestant in Israel’s version of “The Voice,” a singing competition on television. And she is leading in the competition, with her voice likened to that of an angel. So incredible is her voice that the judges are fighting for the right to be their  mentor. Somehow during the clamoring, she chose Aviv Geffen, a rock star, as her mentor for the competition.

The 12th grader is in a conundrum however, since she is studying in a school that enforces the “kol isha,” which prohibits women from singing in public (actually singing in front of men), which has been happening in Israel for a few years now. She has been suspended by her school for two weeks and is required to attend special classes in Jewish law.

“Kol isha” actually means a “woman’s voice” and in the laws of the Orthodox Church, hearing a woman singing is arousing to men and should not be allowed. And there are many approaches on how it is applied. Some authorities only disallow it during prayers, while others forbid it on all occasions. There are other authorities that allow listening to women’s singing voice over the radio because the women’s faces are not shown, while some authorities totally disallow it.

Opinions on Ophir Ben-Shetreet’s school suspension are varied. It was actually the parents of her school mates that lodged the complaints on her singing in a popular TV show. They wanted the admonishment to be an example and a deterrent to their daughters who might want to follow Ben-Shetreet’s footsteps.

In her community at Nir Galim, Ben-Shetreet has many supporters and even if the moshav’s rabbi, Rabbi Zvi Arnon thinks that he understands her situation and was in fact praising the young girl for her “strong morals,” he still said that the prohibition should be followed. He also thinks that the school had to do what needs to be done on the issue. But still the Rabbi hints that the issue should not escalate and that what’s needed is to bring people closer to their religion, and that they should not punish nor excommunicate people.

Ophir Ben-Shetreet said that she had dreamt of sharing her talent with a lot of people to make them happy since she was young that is why she joined the show. She also said that she believes the Torah wants everyone to be happy and music is one way for people to achieve that and that there must be a way to integrate the laws of the Torah and singing in public.