Question: Is dancing a sin?

Answer: Thank you for your excellent question.

Dancing in and of itself is not considered to be sinful in Judaism; in fact, we find quite the opposite! Throughout the Bible, as well as many places in the Talmud, we see dance being described as a sublime way of worshiping God.

In II Samuel 6:14-22, we see that King David danced exuberantly in praise of God to celebrate the bringing of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. One of his wives, Michal, the daughter of King Saul, criticized David for dancing too exuberantly, as she saw it unseemly for the king to act in such an undignified manner in public. King David answered that he should have been even less “seemly” in Michal’s eyes, because the dance was a way to humble himself before God. We see that, essentially, David was right—it was proper to dance to glorify G-d, and when doing so there is not to be worry about pomp and circumstance.

However, there is a way that dancing could be a sin—if the laws of modesty are broken.

Mixed dancing is a sin, except between husband and wife. Even then, it is rather distasteful to dance together in public. Obviously, though, a husband and wife may dance in private.

Additionally, even if the actual dancing is not mixed, it is forbidden for men to watch women dance exuberantly, although it is not a sin for women to dance. Therefore, any place where women are dancing should be blocked with a partition so that men cannot see. However, women are allowed to watch men dance.

There is some discussion as to whether it is permitted to dance on the Sabbath and Holidays, and one’s Rabbi should be consulted.

So, there is no sin in dancing, as long as one is doing so for the glory of God and in a modest way. Quite the opposite, it is a holy way to come close to God.

In closing, the Holy Hasidic master, R’ Zushia of Anipolia, taught that a Jew should always be dancing in his or her heart to celebrate the love of God.

All the best,

Rabbi Azriel Schreiber