Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio

In Bereishit, Yuval is described as the first musician, אֲבִי כָּל תֹּפֵשׂ כִּנּוֹר וְעוּגָב (ancestor of all who play the violin or the pipe). Music can bring a special feeling of joy into our lives.

But when the Beit Ha-Mikdash was destroyed, many people felt that they couldn’t allow themselves to experience this special joy anymore. Based on the Talmud (Gittin 7a), Rambam sums up what happened:

Rambam Laws of Fast Days, 5:12,14

But people had a hard time letting go of music so easily. Even Rambam reports that Jews in his time would regularly sing songs of praise to God, like the זְמִירוֹת (zemirot) many of us sing on Shabbat.

Tosafot (Gittin 7a) seem to limit this prohibition, saying it only applies to royalty who had music played for them throughout the day.

In modern times, R. Moshe Feinstein was strict, saying that people shouldn’t even listen to music with instruments on the radio (Iggerot Moshe Orah Hayyim I:166). He only permitted instruments at mitzvah events like weddings. But R. Eliezer Waldenberg (Tzitz Eliezer 15:33) took the opposite view. He said it is fine for a child to learn an instrument for pleasure, following the Tosafot’s more lenient approach.

We are blessed to live at a time when Jews live freely in the land of Israel, which might be another reason to crank up the music! Still, many who normally have music as part of their lives avoid instruments during especially sad times on the Jewish calendar, like the three weeks leading up to 9 Av. (See Responsa Kappei Aharon #52)

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