Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef ruled that IDF soldiers who were forced to hear women singing at an event should take a book, take off their glasses, and show that they are learning Torah instead of listening to the singing.
Rabbi Yosef also spoke about how modest dress enhances a woman’s honor. “If secular society would realize how much we honor women, and everything we do to honor women, they would not think of us the way they do,” Rabbi Yosef said. “A woman is not an animal, and she should preserve her honor by dressing modestly.”
“Now, I was just in a certain place, and there was a female singer there. What should I do? So I pulled out a small holy book, I took off my glasses, I put the book right in front of my face in a very obvious fashion, so everyone around me would see it.
“That’s what the IDF soldiers should do! If soldiers arrive at a place where they are ordered to listen to women singing – isn’t that a strange order? – what should they do? They should take off their glasses and put a holy book in front of their faces in an obvious fashion, so everyone will see they are too busy learning Torah to listen to the singing.”