I am in my early thirties and just recently started my journey of becoming a more observant Jew i.e., wearing Tzitzit, Yarmulke, attending services, Torah study, etc. However, there are certain issues that I need immediate help with: What type of music am I permitted to listen to? Can I listen to pop/rock or only certain types of mainstream American music or none at all. What about classical like Mozart and the like, or new age that has no lyrics just soothing sounds. A lot of the pop/rock music seems to put me in a more liberal state in relation to Torah ethics. What type of movies/TV can I view, if any?
Generally there’s no clear-cut prohibition of listening to music (unless the lyrics or context are strongly suggestive of values running counter to those of the Torah – women’s singing voices are an issue requiring a separate discussion). On the other hand, the power music can have over moods and even attitudes is well known (see, for example, II Kings 3:15) and, therefore, one should take care that his musical inspiration is in line with his Torah goals.
You should seek to find an appropriate balance…bearing in mind that you are growing in Torah and that you don’t have to achieve perfection overnight. Even the Jewish people, upon receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai, couldn’t have kept all the 613 mitzvot immediately as (for instance) it would have taken significant time to learn how to manufacture and wear tefilin and even to learn what thoughts one should have while wearing them. By the end of their forty years, it’s likely that most Jews were solidly observant of the whole Torah, but it took forty years – even with the advantage of daily access to Moses! It is important to remember that growth in Torah should be a step-by-step process and not a sudden, destabilizing leap.
It’s also very important to know that what is inappropriate for a Jew who grew up, let’s say, in an isolated Torah community where he had no access to secular music and should have developed no taste for it, is not necessarily as risky for you.
The bottom line: your music choices will be personal and may change as you progress in Torah. I would certainly not advise you to drop secular music completely, rather, you might try being more selective, choosing pieces with less violent or suggestive lyrics and styles.
Let me include an observation I once made in a different context:
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato (18th Century Italian scholar) demonstrated the impossibility of satisfying the soul in this finite, mundane world (when teaching this idea, I use the example of fine art and classical music: in great works of art, you can sometimes almost taste an unsatisfied and terrible yearning for something more, something just beyond the artist’s grasp. I suspect that might be one reason why so many artists are so depressed because they can almost see it but don’t realize it’s not really in this world at all…). Either way, given that the soul can never be truly happy here (and assuming that God created it for some benevolent purpose), there MUST be some time and place where it WILL be satisfied. That place, writes Rabbi Luzzato, is the next world, where, in proportion to our worldly merits, we will bask in the infinite warmth of the Divine Presence…something we strive for even now without necessarily knowing it.
A lot of what I wrote above will apply to movies and TV as well. The main difference, however, is that modern TV production (at least as of 20 years ago when I stopped watching) seems to require immodestly-dressed women and public displays of improper conduct in nearly every scene. Watching such programming can involve some serious prohibitions (not to mention, can leave you feeling depressed and “emptyâ€?).
You can justifiably ask how, then, is it permissible to live in modern cities and go about our everyday lives; for aren’t we surrounded by improper dress and actions? The answer to that is that we have no choice: G-d put us in 21st Century North America for a reason and we have to go about our lives as best as we can. Now for a “normalâ€? Jew who’s been religious all his life, TV isn’t like living in a modern city: there’s nothing much there of any real value that requires his attention. Therefore, he’d be hard pressed to come up with a viable excuse for having one.
For someone like you, on the other hand, who is on the road to a full religious life, there may still be a legitimate need for some responsible TV viewing (I would expect that you aren’t yet comfortable with 12 hours a day of intense Torah study, so what will you do with all your time?!). Therefore, I would suggest that, as above, you should undertake to gradually but steadily decrease your viewing of problematic programming while doing what you feel is still necessary for a healthy balanced life.
With my deepest hopes for your continued growth and success,
Rabbi Boruch Clinton