Thursday, December 17, 2009
These Guys Have a Lot of Talent
Although I am not into this type of music, I have to give credit to these guys who are very, very talented. Although learning "bein hasedorim" would be the ideal, of all of the other ways some bochurim spend that time, I suppose this is much better.
Update 12/20/09: I showed my 10 year old daughter this video. She watched how the boys were dancing and she listened to the words, "Lecha Hashem Hagedulah, v'hagevurah, v'Hatiferes v'hanetzach, v'hahod, "Yours Hashem is the greatness, the might, the splendor, the Eternal existance, and the glory." And then she asked me, "If they are singing about Hashem, why are they dancing around like that?"
"A question a child might ask, but not a childish question."
Good kashe.
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7 comments:
I got smicha thirty four years ago, and again twenty six years ago, and have taught a shiur to adults, among whom are several talmidei chachamim, for twenty three years. I am chastened to realize that it took a ten years old child's clarity to remind me about "hatorah chogeres sak" in Sanhedrin 101a.
So let me get it straight - If you don't dance you're a dried out Litvak. If you dance differently from me, you're contemptible. What's the right derech? The one that's exactly like yours I guess!
Tell your daughter that they're dancing like that because that's how they like to dance and it's ok if they're not a bunch or BT neo-chassidim who like to fantasize about being back in Poland.
Anon, you sound like you have become somewhat cynical.
But rather than addressing each of your mistaken underlying assumptions individually, I would just point out that you essentially stated that you agree with my primary point in the "update," which was that "they're dancing like that because that's how they like to dance..."
The problem that my not-yet-cynical daughter aptly pointed out was that these nice bochurim, much like the guys singing the song to which they're lip-synching, are doing what they're doing "because that's how they like to." Because the music is to Jewish words, it kashers singing and dancing which would otherwise have been considered "too goyish" and is essentially just for the purpose of personal enjoyment in one form or another.
Of course it's obvious that there's nothing inherently wrong with "personal enjoyment" at all. It's just a shame to cheapen holy words in the process.
It's late and I don't have the energy to really take you to task properly but just a few points:
1. "they're dancing like that because that's how they like to dance..."
Personally, I'm not so into the nature of that video, BUT GEE WILLY!, I wish I could be as confident as you that my own motivations are much more l'shem shomayim than theirs. You're a tzadik!
2. "which would otherwise have been considered "too goyish""
Too goyish to you that is. Everyone has a different definition of "too goyish"
Some people think the color red is goyish. Some people think Lipa Shmeltzer is goyish. Some people think rubbing shoulders with goyim in law school is too goyish. Before imposing your definition of "too goyish" on others, look inward.
3. "and is essentially just for the purpose of personal enjoyment in one form or another."
There are alot of serious problems plaguing the Jewish world right now. Thanks for opening our eyes to the hedonist underworld that is yeshiva bochurim dancing around the dorms in fedoras.
Look, the words of the song are from Tanach. Chazal explicitly prohibit us from using verses from Tanach in a song unless the song is used to express the meaning of the words. At the simchas beis hashoeiva in the Mikdash, the dancing was an expression of the dancers' spiritual enthusiasm. That's good. The nature of the dancing in this video is such that it is self evident that the boys are just having a good time by dancing to a lively beat. I guarantee that not one of the boys, at any moment, is thinking of the ineffable glory of God. If so, Chazal's prohibition is being transgressed. That is what Dixie's daughter perceived. Is that a good thing?
What would Chazal say about the suggestion that Eliyahu HaNavi shops at Old Navy?
Why don´t they call themselves
"Boys II Mensch" ?
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