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| Rabbi Avraham Elimelech Firer (JNS) |
The brouhaha surrounding a benefit concert whose proceeds
were earmarked for the health-care NGO, Ezra Lemarpe—founded
and directed by genius medical autodidact Rabbi Avraham Elimelech Firer—is a
perfect example.
The concert, a tribute to the 50-year career of Israeli
singer Shlomo Artzi ahead of his 70th birthday, was supposed to take place on
Nov. 20. It was canceled on Monday by Firer, who was fed up and clearly hurt by
the commotion that his religious beliefs were causing.
The carry-on began when it emerged that certain female
singers would be on the program, along with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
and other prominent performers. But the rabbi is a haredi (ultra-Orthodox)
Jew who adheres to the modesty directive that men may not hear women singing,
as their voices can be seductive.
This tenet of kol b’isha erva (“a woman’s voice is
nakedness”) has been the subject of much controversy among Israelis who
consider it a sexist affront. Two recent gender-segregated music festivals that
were held in public spaces catapulted this issue back into the headlines. A
nationwide argument erupted over the limits of religious freedom and practice
in the public sphere, particularly when involving state-funded or municipal venues.
One slogan that was slung around during the battle against those events was:
“We’re not Saudi Arabia.”
It is thus that when the organizers of the gala honoring
Artzi discovered and revealed that no female vocalists would be able to
perform, incensed women artists made a stink, and their male counterparts began
to announce that they couldn’t possibly appear on stage under such
circumstances. You know, out of “solidarity” and in “principle.”
Which actually meant that they feared being accused of
chauvinism.
Thankfully, a handful of stars, including women, came out on
Firer’s side. They argued that fulfilling the rabbi’s wish would be a
negligible price to pay for the millions of people, including women, whom he
has served and whose lives he has saved.
The iconic Artzi, dubbed by some as “Israel’s Bruce
Springsteen,” was not one of them. Instead, he said that he would “do
everything he could” to persuade the rabbi to suspend kol isha just
this once. It was both silly and an expression of utter ignorance. Indeed, he
might as well have suggested that Firer dine on pork during the concert in
order to smooth ruffled feathers.
If anything illustrates the danger of viewing individual
issues through an inflexible ideological prism, this is it. Firer has proven
himself to be a selfless and heroic figure, who has done nothing but use his
eerie gift to help comfort and heal millions of people, without regard to their
ethnic, religious or gender identities.
His almost mystical talent is a self-taught encyclopedic
knowledge of diseases and cures; the ability to read and swiftly decipher
complicated medical charts and scans; and the skill to diagnose rare conditions.
He uses the above to refer each of the dozens of patients he sees daily—at no
charge—to the appropriate doctors.
For his tireless efforts and the running of Ezra Lemarpe, he
was awarded the Israel Prize in 1997, as well as honorary doctorates from the Weizmann
Institute of Science and the University of Haifa in 2002 and 2008,
respectively. Israelis from all walks of life have sought and received his
advice and expertise. So well-known has his miraculous medical “matchmaking”
become that he is as big a star as Artzi, but for a far more important reason.
The sanctity of life is but one of Firer’s religious
principles. Another is refraining from listening to women sing. Allowing the
latter to cancel out the former not only is intolerant and unjust, but exposes
the kind of narrow-mindedness that feminists and fanatical secularists accuse
the haredim of possessing. In this case, it also turned what would
have been a blessed happening into an empty auditorium.
