A person who is reciting Tehillim or praying at home and hears his wife or daughters singing may continue his recitation if he is not concerned that he will come to improper thoughts. However, the women of the household must take care not to sing while he is reading or praying. Some are stringent not to read at all while they are singing.
Sources and Explanations
We find a dispute among the Rishonim regarding this law. In Kitzur Piskei HaRosh (Berachot, chapter 3, ot 37), he distinguishes between the cases: what was prohibited at the time of Keriat Shema is only an uncovered tefach (handbreadth), but the law that “a woman’s voice is ervah (nakedness)” was not stated regarding Keriat Shema, but only regarding the prohibition of deriving pleasure from hearing her voice. The Tur followed him, omitting the law of a woman’s voice from the laws of Keriat Shema. Likewise, Maran in the Kesef Mishneh (Hilchot Keriat Shema 3:16) inferred from the words of the Rambam that the law that a woman’s voice is ervah was stated only regarding the prohibition of deriving pleasure from her voice and not regarding Keriat Shema, and therefore the Rambam did not mention it in Hilchot Keriat Shema when he discussed these laws. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 75:3) writes that one should be careful not to hear the voice of a woman singing at the time of Keriat Shema, and the Rema added a prohibition even regarding a man’s own wife, but qualified his words: if it is a voice he is accustomed to, it is not ervah. The Mishnah Berurah (75:18) explained that since he is accustomed to it, he will not come to improper thoughts, and he added that it is permitted even with a married woman in such a case, where he is accustomed to her voice.
Indeed, it appears that the opinion of the Shulchan Aruch is to permit it according to the letter of the law, even with an unrelated woman whose voice he is not accustomed to, since he wrote only in the language of caution and not in the language of prohibition, as the Kaf HaChaim (75:14) inferred. He writes: “Although in the Beit Yosef he wrote that it is good to be careful lechatchilah (initially) about seeing hair and hearing the voice of a woman singing at the time of Keriat Shema, and here in the Shulchan Aruch he wrote to prohibit hair and that one should be careful about hearing a voice, it appears that in the Shulchan Aruch he retracted and prohibited hair because the Rosh and the Tur explicitly prohibit hair, which is not so regarding the Rif and the Rambam, who merely omitted it. But regarding hearing a voice, since even the Rosh wrote only that it is forbidden to hear, and not regarding Keriat Shema, and the Tur did not write to prohibit, therefore he wrote in the Shulchan Aruch ‘one should be careful,’ as he wrote in the Beit Yosef, and he did not retract from this. See the Beit Yosef and the Bach and examine carefully, and see what the Birkei Yosef wrote, ot 2.” The sefer Halachah Berurah (siman 75, se’if katan 13) likewise permits it lechatchilah if he is accustomed to hearing his wife’s singing voice.
In the sefer Halichot Shlomo by Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l (chapter 20, halacha 11), he permits singing Shabbat zemirot when his female relatives sing with him, even though he says pesukim (verses) in them; however, simply listening to their singing is not proper. In the notes there, he writes that it is permitted only in the manner of song and praise, but saying words of Torah cannot be permitted. It requires consideration whether he would prohibit it in our case, where he is accustomed to her voice.
In Kovetz Teshuvot by Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv (vol. 3, siman 10), he writes that it is obvious that one should not say devarim shebikdushah (words of holiness) while his wife is singing, and that it is forbidden to sing Shabbat zemirot and the like together with her. In the sefer Halichot Bat Yisrael (chapter 6, se’if 8, cited in Ashrei HaIsh chapter 16, halacha 7), he permits singing together with one’s wife if he does not mention pesukim or Divine Names, since the zemirot are said in the manner of song and praise and not in the manner of Torah study.
Regarding one’s sisters, he writes (in Kovetz Teshuvot there) that there is even room to permit hearing their singing voice before they reach the age of physical maturity, but he should not say words of holiness, such as reading Tehillim while they are singing, and this applies even below the age of physical maturity.
From the sefer “Shaf Veyativ – Laws of Saying Tehillim” by Rabbi Shay Tahan, Chapter 4: Laws Concerning Those Who Say Tehillim, Halacha 5 (p. 50 in the print edition). Translated from the Hebrew original.
