Restaurants and music

TravelHearter

Sun, Nov 21 2021, 9:33 pm

Can someone help me understand?
DH and I just ate at a nice, upscale restaurant with a good hechsher. Doesn’t make a difference where in the world we are. While we were there, there was music being piped through speakers. Most of the music was not Jewish and/or Kol Isha. He hated the female singing, I hated listening to despacito (which I think is inappropriate). We didn’t make a big deal about it but it made us wonder why a hechsher would allow it. Israeli music that I might not listen to is one thing, but outright kol isha etc. is another thing.
Am I crazy?

happyfaces

Sun, Nov 21 2021, 9:36 pm

Agree 10000%. Never mind it gave me such a headache!

I complained a few times till they finally dialed it down! You got to speak up!

TravelHearter

Sun, Nov 21 2021, 9:37 pm

It’s not about the volume for me. It’s what they’re playing. Why would someone give a hashgacha to a place that plays problematic music?

sky

Sun, Nov 21 2021, 9:39 pm

TravelHearter wrote:

It’s not about the volume for me. It’s what they’re playing. Why would someone give a hashgacha to a place that plays problematic music?

To take it a step further you aren’t supposed to eat while listening to music l’zechar the churban unless it’s a seudah mitzvah.
I know it’s not widely practiced anymore but it is a strong minhag. I sometimes wonder how that plays out with the hechsher.

naturalmom5

Sun, Nov 21 2021, 10:05 pm

sky wrote:

Technically that issur applies to a live band performing not electronic noise

ccording to Ashkenazim, some say that it is permitted to listen to music year-round except at a feast with wine.[1] According to Sephardim, however, many hold that it is forbidden to listen to musical instruments anytime, and even vocal songs are prohibited at a feast with wine. Nonetheless, many Sephardim are lenient to listen to recorded music or music over the radio. [2

The Gemara in Gittin 7a learns from Pesukim in Nach that it is forbidden to sing songs or play musical instruments. Tosfot (Gittin 7a s.v. Zimra) understand that the prohibition includes only music at feasts of wine, as in the Mishna Sotah 48a. Tosfot add that one should be strict in cases similar to that of the Yerushalmi of a person who goes to sleep and wakes up to music. The Rambam (Taaniyot 5:14), by contrast, writes that it’s forbidden to play musical instruments in all cases, and mere singing is forbidden only at a feast with wine. Strangely, the Rambam in his responsa (# 224) seems to forbid listening to music whether it comes through instruments or people singing and whether it’s at a feast or not.
Shulchan Aruch 560:3 rules like the Rambam in Yad Chazakah. The Rama 560:3, though, quotes the opinion of Tosfot as normative, while the Bach 560 holds like the Sh”t HaRambam. Many acharonim, including the Magen Avraham 560:9, Mishna Brurah 560:13, Kaf HaChaim 560:26, and Sh”t Az Nidbaru 8:58 cite the Bach and seem to hold like him. Kitzur S”A 126:3 clearly holds like the Bach. Sh”t Igrot Moshe 1:166 rules like S”A but adds that a righteous individual should be strict for the Bach.
On the other hand, Sh”t Tzitz Eliezer 15:33, Rav Belsky in Shulchan HaLevi 16:2, Hilchot Chag BeChag (p. 24), and Sh”t Sheilat Shlomo 7:59 accept the position of the Rama.