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Turning it Down to 10
Yesterday was the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz, which marks the beginning of a very difficult three week period in the Jewish calendar. OU.org has a long and depressing list of the stuff that happened during this period each year in Jewish history. As a result, there is another list of things prohibited to observant Jews during this period.

As a musician, it's always difficult for me to reconcile my lifestyle with one particular prohibition:

Dancing and playing musical instruments are prohibited during the three weeks (MA 551-10, MB-16, KH-39), this includes music tapes (Silmas Chaim 29-1, Halachos Moshe (Mamon) 43, Kapi Aharon 52, Igros Moshe Vol 6 OC 21-4, YD Vol. 6-32). However, one may sing without any musical accompaniment (Sedai Chemed 1-10, Yalkut Yosef Daf 561 (5)). One may not attend a music concert.

Every Rabbi I've consulted thus far, though, has pointed me in the direction of the same loophole:

A musician who earns his living by playing may play the instrument until Rosh Chodosh (PM Eshel Avraham 551-10, KH-39, Mahram Shick YD 368, Zachar Simcha 67).

So I believe I'm in the clear for the next couple weeks or so. But I'm definitely not the only one with this problem. Considering the number of people who believe there should be a Grammy category for "Best Jewish Album," and the multitude of orthodox Jewish musical acts in existence, and the ubiquity of recorded music these days, there are lots of creative ways around this prohibition. For example, the Miami Boys Choir, a scary chorus of young Jewish boys singing hugely influential melodies in pre-pubescent voices, has produced an album specifically for Jewish mourning periods entirely a capella. There's even a really good Chicago a capella outfit called Shircago that promotes its music heavily during this time each year.

I consulted another Rabbi again this year, and he and I both disagree with this philosophy. This is a mourning period, so if Stereo Sinai were going to be recording and promoting our music during these next three weeks, let it be introspective and sorrowful music. Whether the music is a capella or not is irrelevant to the emotion it should evoke now. It's a sad time, and I believe my art should reflect that sadness, as all good art does.

Like the great rock multi-instrumentalist Nigel Tufnel, Stereo Sinai's music is at 11 almost all year round. But for a little while, to remember the sadder times, we can be at 10.

Hero or Competitor?
The Pitchfork Music Festival is this weekend here in Chicago, so you'd think I'd be blogging about that. But no, there's a much more important story in the news today. BBC News reported today on the story of Brother Cesare Bonizzi, a Capuchin monk who is the lead singer in a head-banging heavy metal group that is releasing its second album today. He sings about his faith in Italian, and quite frankly, it gives me a lot of hope for Stereo Sinai. Check out the BBC atricle here.

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Yehey, hey, hey!
Yes, I really do like the cheesy dance-pop of the Chevra, and yes, I get made fun of for it plenty. One of my favorites of theirs was turned into this video, and I just had to share it with you:

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And no, I couldn't believe it, either...

A Good Jewish Treehugger

Back in October of last year, Treehugger.com published an article about Yeshivat Simchat Shlomo, because it's a place near Jerusalem where you can study Jewish texts about how to be a good Jewish treehugger. I learned about that same yeshiva about a month earlier because I had spoken with a good friend who studied there, and raved about it. I even considered going, for a while (maybe one day).

But the truth is that it got me thinking about Jews and the modern environmental movement, and how much of a chicken-egg situation this might be. In other words, has environmentalism always been a "Jewish" issue because of its basis in the Torah and other Jewish historical ideologies? Or is this simply a case of tree-hugging Jews jumping on the bandwagon, as with Marxism, or voting for FDR?

I know that I'm approaching Stereo Sinai as an environmentally-conscious musical group very much from the bandwagon angle. And I don't think that's a bad thing either, because as any true-blue environmentalist will tell you, the attention of the human race needs to be focused on the health of the planet now more than ever. It just might seem strange coming from an artist whose music is so entrenched in ancient Jewish texts, but who knows? Perhaps one day there will be an especially environmental verse in the Talmud that will call out to Stereo Sinai to be written into a pop anthem for the Jewish environmental movement. Hmm... I guess you should keep your ears open...

Chicago'll be Green in Twenty-Sixteen
I still haven't given up hope that in the year 2016 there will be flying cars that are simple, affordable, cool, safe, and perhaps most importantly, will not harm the environment in any way. Call me an idealist, a wacko idealist.

I also hope that the International Olympic Committee will choose Chicago as the location for the 2016 games. In case you weren't yet aware, Chicago is one of the four candidate cities to host the olympics in 2016, and I'm proud of our mayor and our city, for among other things, ensuring that even if the cool zero-emissions flying cars are not available by then, there's still something good going on for the environment. Check it out:

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