We are continuing in siman 6, discussing the halachos of kol. There is a Gemara in Pesachim which discusses hana’ah haba’ah lo l’adam ba’al korcho. When a person is in a situation where a prohibited pleasure comes to them against their will. Examples include the smell of chometz on Pesach, the smell of basar b’chalav, seeing a beautiful avoda zara or hearing lashon hara.
The Shach explains that the issur of hana’ah requires a person to do an act to retrieve the hana’ah. If a person does something without any effort on their part, they do not transgress any issurim. The Chayei Adam and Chofetz Chaim concur with the Shach.
That being said, we need to clarify what it means to actively retrieve a hana’ah. Clearly, doing an action to retrieve the benefit is assur. The question becomes when a person places themselves in a situation, and then, as a result of that action, they are now receive this hana’ah. For example, a person sits down at a table for shalosh seudos, and the other people who sit down begin to speak lashon hara, and for whatever reason he cannot leave. Since his action (sitting down) was inadvertent, we do not connect his action to the issur of hana’ah which occurs afterwards. However, if a person knows they are going to be sitting at a table where lashon hara will be spoken, even if they have no intent for the lashon hara, it is considered that they actively retrieved a hana’ah and they must leave or transgress the issur.
Furthermore, even if a person placed themselves in the situation inadvertently, if they are able to leave and they do not leave, it is considered as though they actively retrieved the hana’ah.
Thus, we have two scenarios in which a person is considered to be actively benefiting from hana’ah, even though there was no direct action. These are, when one decides to go to a place lechatchilla where hana’ah may occur even though they do not plan to derive benefit from the hana’ah, and when one makes a decision to remain in a place where hana’ah is occurring even though they have a way to leave.
We can apply this concept to kol isha, and to the final case we were discussing of a group of male and female non-relatives (see shiur 1464). Kol isha can arguably be compared to lashon hara, in the sense that one receives some hana’ah from hearing a woman sing, so we apply the concept of hana’ah haba’ah lo l’adam ba’al korcho. Thus, if one did not know the woman would sing, and they cannot leave, they are not transgressing any aveirah. However, if they decide to enjoy the singing, or if they are able to leave and remain, or if they knew of the possibility that there would be kol isha and went anyways, it is considered as though they actively retrieved hana’ah, and they transgress the issur of kol isha.
Summary
- Hana’ah haba’ah lo l’adam ba’al korcho applies to kol isha in that if one places themselves in a situation in which they did not know a woman would be singing, and they have no way to leave, and they have no intent to enjoy the sound, they have not transgressed the issur of kol isha.
- However, if a person decides to enjoy the singing, or if they are able to leave and remain, or if they knew of the possibility that there would be kol isha and went anyways, they have transgressed the issur of kol isha, because hana’ah haba’ah lo l’adam ba’al korcho no longer applies.
