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August 4, 2011 8:09 pm at 8:09 pm #598441kylbdnrMember
How do you stop a really bad habit?
August 4, 2011 8:25 pm at 8:25 pm #798270adorableParticipantlike posting on the CR or biting your nails or movies?
August 4, 2011 8:27 pm at 8:27 pm #798271kylbdnrMemberworse…listening to non jewish music
August 4, 2011 8:41 pm at 8:41 pm #798272farrockawayParticipantwhy is that a “really bad” habit?
August 4, 2011 8:47 pm at 8:47 pm #798273adorableParticipanti think movies is worse than the music.
August 4, 2011 8:55 pm at 8:55 pm #798274PeacemakerMemberMovies may be worse, but B”H she doesn’t have that problem.
August 4, 2011 9:37 pm at 9:37 pm #798275MiddlePathParticipantI’m just curious about three things:
Why do you consider it a bad habit?
What made you start this “habit”?
What kind of non-Jewish music are you listening to?
August 4, 2011 9:57 pm at 9:57 pm #798276MDGParticipantStart with one thing at a time.
For me that was not listening to recorded female voices.
Don’t try to take on anything big all at once. Divide and conquer.
August 4, 2011 11:00 pm at 11:00 pm #798277popa_bar_abbaParticipantBlock up your ears until you don’t want to anymore.
August 4, 2011 11:01 pm at 11:01 pm #798278WIYMemberKylbdnr
Not so sure listening to non Jewish music is a habit. Its certainly appealing as the music and voices in many cases is better and more professional.
If you know something is not permitted you must stop doing it, for some, going cold turkey and quitting on the spot works best for others, a gradual cutting down until stopping totally works best.
Now if you have non Jewish cds at home or have the files as mp3s on your player, the best move is if you plan on going cold turkeyis to GET RID OF THEM. If you don’t have them you can’t listen. However if you primarily listen to the radio then that’s tougher.
Give us more info to better advise you.
August 4, 2011 11:13 pm at 11:13 pm #798279Sister BearMemberOr try not to just listen during Elul and Tishrei (they’re coming up) and then every day after that do it day by day or a chunk at a time.
August 4, 2011 11:38 pm at 11:38 pm #798280ronrsrMemberI have successfully changed bad habits by acquiring worse habits. The new worse habit soon displaces the old.
August 4, 2011 11:48 pm at 11:48 pm #798281kylbdnrMemberI think it’s a bad habit cuz of the kind of music it is…there’s no point in listing names.
I don’t have an mp3 or iPod but I’m on the computer all day, every day.
I keep telling myself not to listen to it for a month. I started July 12th and broke it today. I only held back myself all these days cuz of the 3 weeks/9 days and all these days I’ve been listening to the AKA Pella CD (which was the same non jewish music with Jewish words)
August 5, 2011 2:04 am at 2:04 am #798282WIYMemberkylbdnr
Might I recommend spending less time in front of the computer to make it easier?
August 5, 2011 3:19 am at 3:19 am #798283oomisParticipantTaking secular tunes and infusing them with Jewish words and content, elevates those tunes from their mundane origins. Gershon Veroba did a great job with that. The tunes are not so much the issue, it is the lyrics that might be offensive to some.
August 5, 2011 3:34 am at 3:34 am #798284HaLeiViParticipantStart listening to classical music. Not boring, long, stretched out stuff, but stuff like Bizet’s Carmen or Tchaikowsky’s war of 1812 and many others. If you’ll introduce yourself to this new thing it might replace the old habit. Keep in mind as well that a lot more musical planning went into the music I mention than the guitar strumming patterns.
August 5, 2011 4:06 am at 4:06 am #798285person3MemberTell your problem to someone who you respect and who you care what they think of you – and tell her you’ll report to her every day whether you slipped up or not. It really works!
August 5, 2011 5:49 am at 5:49 am #798286FantabulousEyebrowsMemberMy Rebbeim always said goyish music affects your neshama and its really bad even if you dont feel it, and at the time i thought it was a load of bull..logna (balogna). but within a year i saw what they said was true.
A classmate of mine in yeshiva (sophomore year) started listening to goyish music partly through the year. I was with him when he went to a friends house and downloaded a bunch of shmutz music on his mp3.
He rationalized “it’s not so bad listening to music”. And at the time, that’s all he did do. No more no less.
Sorry for the tangeant, back to the topic. So please don’t listen to some of the earlier posters that lack moach bekodkodan and take the TREMENDOUS responsibility of hinting another heiligh jew that “whats wrong with listening to goyish music?” even an innocent question (“what, i didnt tell them to go do it i was just asking”) is wrong, especially in reply to someone looking for help to overcome this terrible nisayon that plagues some of us.
Tell you the truth, i used to listen to goyish music myself. (may Hashem forgive me) Dont think i’m an FFB Rabbi that doesnt even know what goyish music means. Noopers, I’m still a teenager but BH i wised up about my outlook on life.
And with all honesty, even though i’ve gone through it all (rap, hip hop, techno, core, reggae, rock, punk, goth rock) I can say with all my heart that none of them have left me with feeling a sense of happiness. With the happy dance music, it was nice to groove to the beat, but when its done i would always be more down than before. And don’t even ask about rock or rap that give you negative emotions even while listening to it! ROFL (^_^)
So the way i helped myself from listening to this poisonous material to the neshama, was that i would listen to touching jewish songs that really made me feel closer to HaShem. Like i personally liked D’veykus, and also some happy songs thanking HaShem for what he’s given us. And if you prefer to help with your transition, i listened to this one awesome Jewish rock song “Mimamakim”, and i’d walk into the Bais Midrash screaming “Nafshi LaShem mishomerim, shomrim Labokerrrr, Whoaahhh!!!!” :-O …lol
I also enjoy classical music.
The main effect comes from bad lyrics, but there also comes from style and feelings put into it when it was written. So it is also highly recommended to make sure that the composer didn’t have bad kavonos or hirhurim put into the song or else that is also transferred into the song. I know it sounds like wogie woogie, hocus pocus, mumbo jumbo, but really, music is the language of the neshama and it touches straight from the maker to the listener.
But that’s for advanced people later on, while most of us have bigger problems than listening to romantic classical music. (at least i’ll speak for myself.)
the main benefit i get in this world (in addition to olam haba) from listening to jewish meaningful music is the real menuchas hanefesh i get from listening to it. When i used to listen to goyish music i would feel that it’s so lame and stupid to listen to that jewish music. But now i realize how the music really affects your emotions and feelings, and i would see clearly that friends of mine who listened to goyish music would really repeat manuvaldik lyrics about taivah and doing really inappropriate things that would make me feel disgusted. It is totally true, when a person is in the filth he can’t see it for what it is. He even thinks its chashuv and awesome, and the best way to live their life. Only an objective onlooker can see and pity what has become of this person wallowing in filth.
i highly recommend what some of the people above me said, like talking about it to someone who eally cares about you, like someone said, and also look for fun kosher alternatives to uplift you instead of this tumahdikke stuff.
so all in all, i’m sorry for making a whole drasha, but seeing another yiddishe neshama that is innocently asking for help with this serious problem touched a chord in me, and i wanted to say whatever i could to help. Hatzlacha and Shalom
August 5, 2011 9:56 am at 9:56 am #798287MichaelCMemberLearn Torah- Torah cures everything (see Talmud Eruvin)
August 5, 2011 2:39 pm at 2:39 pm #798288cookies123MemberAny bad or actually wrong habit can be stopped only when you have an incentive to do so, which is usually not the case, so therefore you have to seek a way that would make you want to stop that habit because nobody can force you to stop besides yourself. I personally was struggling with a bad habit which i wanted to stop for years already but coudn’t get myself to do so, until it was a time when a family member was very sick, so I made this little promise to discontinue what I was doing for a zechus for the choileh and if he has a Refuah Shelaima, I will completely stop with the wrong thing I was doing. B”H he did have a refuah Sheleima and since that day (3 1/2 years ago) it hasn’t even occured to me once to slip back. Because, I know that I overcame it and how can I ever fall back.. it’s like being a loser. Wish you lots of Hatzlach you should have the binah yeseira to realize and be able do what’s right!
August 6, 2011 7:06 pm at 7:06 pm #798289haifagirlParticipantTchaikowsky’s war of 1812
1812 Overture
August 7, 2011 3:05 am at 3:05 am #798290yitayningwutParticipantkylbdnr-
The best thing is to find a new habit to occupy yourself with until this is out of your system enough that it won’t be a constant yetzer hara. Even if you fall a few times don’t worry about it, as long as you try to focus on finding something else to occupy your head.
Do you have anything else you are interested in? That’s the first place to start.
August 7, 2011 5:32 pm at 5:32 pm #798291kylbdnrMemberI started listening to Jewish songs with the non Jewish tunes but it’s not the same. The other words pop into my head while listening to the Jewish version.
HaLeiVi – I don’t enjoy classical music. I need loud beaty music. The tunes of other songs drive me crazy.
person3- I tried that. I’m able to keep my word for 2/3 weeks and then I can’t hold back anymore.
FantabulousEyebrows- I know it affects the neshama etc. I listen to Jewish music too, but I can’t leave the other music behind.
cookies123- I make promises for myself to try very hard not to listen to such music but it doesn’t hold up that long.
yitayningwut- I’m a college student. Most of the time I’m on the computer doing my school work. As I do that, I listen to music. It’s not like I can do anything else while doing homework.
August 7, 2011 5:39 pm at 5:39 pm #798292yitayningwutParticipantDo you have a problem with all non Jewish music or only with ‘explicit content’ type? If so, try getting into jazz, blues, or classical music. You’ll become more ‘cultured’ that way too.
August 7, 2011 6:13 pm at 6:13 pm #798293kylbdnrMemberThe chassidish/Ashkenazic accent drives me CRAZY!
I started listening to Israeli Sefardic non Jewish music – but that’s the same as the English non Jewish music, except in Hebrew
August 7, 2011 6:31 pm at 6:31 pm #798294MiddlePathParticipantkylbdnr- There’s plenty of great non-Jewish music that is up-beat and GENERALLY doesn’t have “explicit content” (You have to search around a little, but you’ll be able to find it). Try out Jazz, Classic Rock, Progressive Rock, Jazz Fusion, Instrumental Rock, Instrumental Metal, SOME Hard Rock/Heavy Metal…there’s plenty out there. I can name you many many bands that have close to zero songs with adult themes or offensive words.
August 7, 2011 6:39 pm at 6:39 pm #798295yitayningwutParticipantI second MiddlePath
August 7, 2011 6:51 pm at 6:51 pm #798296haifagirlParticipantI don’t enjoy classical music. I need loud beaty music.
You sound like someone who doesn’t know classical music. Remind me after Tisha B’Av and I’ll recommend some loud, “beaty” music.
August 7, 2011 6:58 pm at 6:58 pm #798297uneeqParticipantTo FantabulousEyebrows: While I believe that music can affect the neshama, in my experience its only the dirty, cheap “hit” music that they play on the radio constantly. Any music that is clean, I personally never felt a problem listening to including even my favorite, heavy metal. Although, I do believe that I would be better off without it, as I have been recently, just like I am better off without going to sports games (but it doesn’t make sports games assur or derogatory.
BTW, first post here, longtime lurker
August 7, 2011 8:25 pm at 8:25 pm #798298WIYMemberMiddlePath
I don’t know your age, but I doubt there is much out there in enjoyable non Jewish music that would appeal to a teen or someone in their 20s that is squeaky clean. Yeah if you go through all the non Jewish music of the last 50 years you may find some clean songs, but I don’t think there’s any one group who made a cd that is “kosher” and enjoyable to listen to for todays generation.
August 7, 2011 8:52 pm at 8:52 pm #798299aries2756ParticipantIn order to change a negative you replace it with a positive. So in order to stop a bad habit you replace it with a good habit. If you are trying to change the music you listen to, find another type of music to listen to. You might have to wean yourself off slowly. So instead of going from secular rock n roll music to Jewish hartzik music right away, you might find some hip-hop music that you like and then find some hip-hop jewish music and then ease into regular popular jewish artists that have a good beat or a good message like Soul Farm or that type. That would probably work better than replacing secular music immediately with Avrohom Fried.
I am sure that you didn’t switch from Jewish Music to secular music over night and you probably won’t be able to switch back over night. It will probably be a work in progress. So start working and give yourself credit for every cd you listen to and every cd you give up. There are a lot of Jewish music you can listen to and buy on Itunes. You would be surprised how many groups there are and how entertaining they are.
August 7, 2011 8:59 pm at 8:59 pm #798300always hereParticipant“So instead of going from secular rock n roll music to Jewish hartzik music right away, you might find some hip-hop music that you like…”
going from good rock ‘n roll to hip-hop?! not a good plan IMO… it’s much trashier.
August 7, 2011 9:51 pm at 9:51 pm #798301aries2756ParticipantHow would you know that? What is considered “good” rock ‘n roll and what is considered “trashy” hip hop?
August 7, 2011 10:08 pm at 10:08 pm #798302always hereParticipantaries~ IMO good rock ‘n roll is music from the ’60’s & ’70’s.
OTOH– hip-hop, & “Gangsta rap.. a subgenre of hip hop.. reflects the violent lifestyles of inner-city American black youths.” with “lyrics [that are] more violent, openly confrontational, and shocking… featuring incessant profanity.”
August 8, 2011 2:28 am at 2:28 am #798303MiddlePathParticipantWIY- I am actually in my lower 20’s, and I can easily name over 50 bands that have 99% clean material in a wide variety of genres, from Jazz to Heavy Metal. I don’t know if this music is appealing to teenagers right now (I assume Rap/Hip Hop and Pop are the most popular genres for teens, currently), but I enjoy it. And I can also easily name over 50 albums that have absolutely NO vulgar words or inappropriate material.
Concerning another point brought up here, I’m fairly certain that most Rock is much more appropriate than most Rap/Hip Hop.
August 8, 2011 4:11 pm at 4:11 pm #798304yitayningwutParticipantI second MiddlePath again
August 8, 2011 5:04 pm at 5:04 pm #798305aries2756Participantaries~ IMO good rock ‘n roll is music from the ’60’s & ’70’s.
OTOH– hip-hop, & “Gangsta rap.. a subgenre of hip hop.. reflects the violent lifestyles of inner-city American black youths.” with “lyrics [that are] more violent, openly confrontational, and shocking… featuring incessant profanity.”
Obviously those were not the ones I was suggesting he listen to. OTOH, there are a lot of fun upbeat hip hop tunes that do NOT contain vulgar, violent lyrics. And I never said “RAP”. That is a whole different genre that I happened to despise.
August 8, 2011 6:30 pm at 6:30 pm #798306brotherofursParticipantThe chassidish/Ashkenazic accent drives me CRAZY!
I started listening to Israeli Sefardic non Jewish music – but that’s the same as the English non Jewish music, except in Hebrew
kylbdnr- what about Yaakov Shwekey!? 😀
August 8, 2011 6:56 pm at 6:56 pm #798307yitayningwutParticipantI concur with aries2756
August 8, 2011 7:13 pm at 7:13 pm #798308MiddlePathParticipantAries, you are right, and I despise Rap as well. Partly because of the lyrical material, and partly because of the lack of musical sophistication.
August 8, 2011 7:35 pm at 7:35 pm #798309yitayningwutParticipantIt happens to be that lately there has been a rise of musical sophistication in rap. Nothing unbelievable but sometimes the rapper will just branch off into a melodious shtickel and stick in a nice major or seventh or something. But it still ain’t Mozart.
August 8, 2011 8:10 pm at 8:10 pm #798310MiddlePathParticipantyitayningwut- Really? I was unaware of that. But it still won’t get me to listen to Rap. I also enjoy songs that contain complex time signatures and have random rhythm changes, commonly found in Prog Rock/ Jazz Fusion. Does any Rap have that? I doubt it.
August 8, 2011 8:19 pm at 8:19 pm #798311yitayningwutParticipantLol, for complex time signatures in rap you’re going to have to wait a while. But I do think it is evolving.
August 8, 2011 8:36 pm at 8:36 pm #798312kylbdnrMemberI’ve tried MBD, Avrohom Fried, Shwekey, Baruch Levine, Meydad Tasa…I don’t enjoy any of them.
August 8, 2011 9:48 pm at 9:48 pm #798313yitayningwutParticipantkylbdnr-
What about Blue Fringe, Moshav Band, Soulfarm, 8th day? Also, in more “mainstream” Jewish music, the more recent Lipa albums and Benny Friedman are quite enjoyable to the ear of someone used to current pop music.
August 12, 2011 7:18 am at 7:18 am #798314haifagirlParticipantRemind me after Tisha B’Av and I’ll recommend some loud, “beaty” music.
You forgot to remind me. Luckily I remembered on my own. These might not all be to your taste, but give them a try. In no particular order:
Radetzky March – Strauss (Stay away from the Karajan version.)
Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture – Glinka
Tritsch Tratsch Polka – Strauss
Hungarian Dance #5 – Brahms
Russian Dance (Trepak) from The Nutcracker – Tchaikovsky
Die Fledermaus Overture – Strauss
Polonaise from Eugene Onegin – Tchaikovsky
Entry of the Gladiators (also known as Thunder and Blazes) – Fucik
Candide Overture – Bernstein
Sabre Dance – Khachaturian
Les Toreadors from Carmen Suite #1
Bugler’s Holiday – Anderson
The Typewriter – Anderson
War March of the Priests from Athalia – Mendelssohn
Mars: Bringer of War from The Planets – Holst
Jupiter: Bringer of Jollity from The Planets – Holst
Hungarian Rhapsody #2 – Liszt
Nearly anything by Sousa
Oh, and here’s a squeaky clean rap: Fear the Boom and Bust
August 12, 2011 5:06 pm at 5:06 pm #798316WIYMemberMiddlePath
Perfectly clean?! I know some of these songs from my old days. They may be cleaner than todays pop music but they aren’t clean unless you have low standards of clean. Anyone can google the lyrics to these songs and see for themselves!
Mods is this what we do here? We promote non Jewish music?
August 12, 2011 5:09 pm at 5:09 pm #798317kylbdnrMemberThanks for remembering 🙂 I listened to 3 of them so far…there’s no words…it was driving me insane
August 12, 2011 5:11 pm at 5:11 pm #798318YW Moderator-80Memberwiy
i dont know these songs
if the poster said they are clean i dont have the time or foolishness to listen to them to corroborate.
as far as things on this site that are not “kosher” if everything perfectly “kosher” was eliminated there would be almost nothing left (not necessarily a bad idea)
i dont appreciate your constant criticism of the moderation here lately
if it disturbs you, you already stated you are aware of your options. lets leave ranting against the moderation staff out of those options please.
August 12, 2011 5:15 pm at 5:15 pm #798319WIYMemberdeleted
read my previous post more carefully
end of discussion
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