Jewish Star contest

I am deeply troubled by the ” Jewish Star ” contest that is becoming a so called sensation amongst the Orthodox Jewish music fans.

I am 35 years of age with a deep passion for Jewish music. I grew up listening to authentic music sung by real talented individuals. There were very few artists back then, but what the public got to see was sheer talent. Whether one liked MBD, Carlebach, Miami,Shenker, David Werdiger, Deveikus,Pirchei , there was a little of every style to suit every body’s taste. One may ask, how did these talented performers make it? The answer is obvious, they were good at what they did and we all appreciated that.

I have watched Jewish music slowly decline into the sewers. There are limited good voices and the few good voices that exist, are influenced by the general population and they do not produce quality material.

Since last year we have witnessed a Chilul Hashem emanating from this contest known as the Jewish Star. It is quite apparent that their goal is to emulate the Non Jewish music contest, known Internationally as American Idol. The goal of that show is to allow any individual to present himself as a singing talent showcase, allowing the scorn and the ridicule from the public via on line comments. They achieve ratings by allowing useless singers to make an utter fool of themselves thereby causing the judges to make sarcastic remarks and ultimately embarrassing the individual. Although the intention of that show is not designed around that premise, but that outcome is predictable. The show ” Jewish Star “, is no different. They allow people with no singing capability to present themselves as singers when in essence they are anything but singers. This is seemingly against the principles of Loshon Hora and Malbin Penei Chaveiro Barabim. I am fully aware that they make the contestants sign waivers agreeing to the release of the videos to the public, but lets face it, no one has the intention of making a fool of themselves. That is exactly what is happening. People are leaving derogatory comments about the contestants causing frum yidden to transgress the prohibition of Loshon Hora all in the name of Entertainment. I understand that there is money and ratings involved, but must the basic principles that we hold so dear be trampled on all in the name of entertainment ? There can be excuses that the goal of the show is to allow a promising career for these individuals, my rebuttal is, if MBD, R Shlomo Carlebach, Bentzion Shenker, Yossele Rosenblatt and other singers made it without this crazy contest, why cant future talented singers make it as well without this contest? I am not against any singer to have a successful career, but its the way this contest is presented that lacks true Jewish ideals.