We are continuing in siman 6, discussing the halachos of kol. We left off with a question regarding the status of listening to the kol of close relatives, for whom one does not have a yetzer hara.
The assumption of the poskim is that it is muttar to hear the singing voice of close relatives. The poskim make a kal vachomer, that if a father is permitted to touch, hug and kiss his daughter, and there is no concern for issur, certainly a father can hear his daughter’s singing voice, which is a lesser level of issur. Similarly, a father can be in yichud with his daughter, and kol is a lower level issur than yichud. Due to both of these kal vachomers, the poskim understand it to be muttar. This logic applies to a father and daughter, and mother and son.
Regarding brother and sister, the poskim write that even though hugging and kissing a sibling is discouraged, with the Rambam calling it “a davar mechoar only done by the foolish”, it is not an issur. Similarly, a brother can be in yichud with a sister (except for a long term situation). Thus, based this logic, the assumption of the poskim is that certainly kol, which is a lower level issur, is muttar.
At this point, the exceptions we have learned to the issur of kol isha are a single woman under the age of 11, and close relatives. The poskim point out that regarding a girl under the age of 11, it will depend on the physical maturity of the girl, for if she becomes a niddah before that age her kol is assur.
These exceptions do not apply to kriyas shema and devarim shebikedusha, but to the general issur of kol b’isha ervah, which is independent of the issur to hear kol isha during kriyas shema.
Regarding close relatives, we need to clarify whether it is muttar to learn while they are singing. We know that it is assur for a husband to recite kriyas shema in front of his wife if the parts of her body which are normally covered and uncovered, even though there is no issur ervah for him to see them. We need to clarify whether that issur applies here as well.
Additionally, we need to clarify what is included in the issur of learning or davening while close relatives are singing.
Summary
The poskim understand that it is muttar for a man to hear his close relatives sing. These are a father to daughter, son to mother, and brother to sister.
This is in regards to the concern of ervah in general. Hearing them sing in conjunction with learning or davening still needs to be discussed.
