Dr. Robert Solomon responds to Rabbi Moshe Shochet's letter responding to his letter about Rabbi Goldwasser's article on music.
So, at least according to reader Moshe Shochet, it is not musical notes that threaten to corrupt, but rather "the beat" (Letters, April 23).
In responding to my earlier letter to the editor, Rabbi Shochet sounds the alarm: The pulsation of a “rock beat” will so craze us that our very souls will become corrupted. But what really stands out in his letter was that rather than address the facts, he resorts to name calling and then retreats behind what he perceives to be the invincible wall of claiming to speak for “Daas Torah.” (Kind of like in yeshiva when you’d ask a sincere question that the melamed couldn`t handle and he`d throw you out of class and call you a chatzuf.)
Sorry, Rabbi Shochet, but much as you might wish it to be, you as an individual are not infallible, nor is the right-wing community you presume to speak for.
As far as my alleged chutzpah is concerned, I welcome the charge. Better that than being a purveyor of skewed spiritual theory, a declarer of fatwah-like pronouncements, and an instigator of needless anxiety and guilt among innocent music lovers.
As for that "rock beat," I guess the good rabbi hasn’t been to any Mordechai ben David concerts lately, or joined the men contorting themselves to the "rock beat" at frum weddings.
Dr. Robert M. Solomon, Brooklyn, NY
