Treif Music at Jewish Events

I don’t understand why it’s become more common to use the actual melody of a lyrically non-kosher song as part of Contemporary Frum songs. And what is it doing during the dance(s) in a Jewish wedding?

This musical phenomenon demonstrates a lack of creativity on the part of the Frum musician. There are so many creative ways to compose a the instrumentals of a song. Basic musical theory teaches you how to hear and recognize the pattern in a song. Most songs within an older culture are relatively similar anyway. The common Middle Eastern patterns are regularly used in Jewish music without physically taking a pre-existing melody and using it the same form.

It creates a bad trend. Using these secular pop songs sets an example that this music is appropriate to use. If the lyrics of the goyish song are אסור to read or listen to, then by playing it and changing the words, you can risk people hearing the original song with the non-kosher lyrics. Those themes that talk about love and lust warp the mind and heart. Those types of songs can sound desirable but they have an influence that can change how one views the nature of relationships. 

This harms one’s עבדת השם. 

We’re not just talking about simple folk songs. We’re talking about something worse. Songs about immorality. Songs that are against Jewish values. This is penetrating the hearts of your people, and this is dangerous.

We are not talking about the large middle area where the Halakhah allows permits a Jew to listen and play variety of musical genres but rather the nature of the songs that are vulgar or idolatrous being used for Jewish music.

As for the usage of EDM at Jewish weddings, the Lakewood music scene is quite an ironic hypocrisy where they merely play what’s popular among the Frum crowd but with a more wild twist. It’s one thing to use electronic music to enhance a musical experience, but it’s another thing to promote an exaggeration of how wild a religious Jewish dancing event can be.

There are many Baalei Teshuvah and Gerim who come from musical backgrounds who know how to properly blend the broad range of music in a manner that’s ideal. It’s ironic that many Frum From Birth people seem to be spiritually unaware of this.

Some people know how to utilize modern technology to make music nicer, but the average Heimish keyboardist isn’t doing that…Instead, they are promoting processed music of low value.