a question
Hello Rabbi
Is it okay that the singer yesterday did not shake the hand of the US President? Is it not blasphemy and bleaching?
Besides, this is someone who just before that sang in front of men, so what did she suddenly remember about keeping in touch?
Answer
Peace
Maimonides in the Basic Laws of the Torah (Chapter 5) explains that the promotion of the name is when a person is faithful to the Torah and does not violate its prohibition even when he pays heavy prices for it.
Later in the same chapter he explains that when a great person behaves in a way that makes people revel in him, or he does things that are considered disrespectful or those that are considered problematic, it is blasphemy.
According to him, the behavior of that singer in the President’s house was a great sanctification of the name, and certainly not a desecration of the name.
Loyalty to the values of the Torah, and the transmission of the value that the Torah of Israel attaches to the connection between a man and a woman, so much so that even simple contact does not cause a place that is not of a married couple, is sanctifying the name to many in Israel and around the world. , When he heard how many children she has. It seems that the values on this subject are a little more aligned with him than various factors with us).
Whitening of the face is when a man shames his friend, not when a woman maintains her principles, and announces in advance that she will not shake hands, and even during the event she does so politely and respectfully.
As for the fact that she sang to men at the same event – forgiveness, but the question is not appropriate. This is a woman who is in the process of repentance and progress, and the fact that she has more room to go (I guess you also have room to go) has nothing to do with the value of the act she did yesterday.
All the best