Why do music tapes and CDs warn about playing on Shabbos?

Question

I have seen written on almost every music CD and Cassette Tape that I have in my house the line:

Please do not play on Shabbos and Yom Tov

I've always wondered if this is really necessary. Does not having this line make the seller an accomplice to the one who transgresses on Shabbos?

More importantly, though, how did this practice originate? Last time I bought a chicken at my local butcher, I don't recall seeing a sign "please do not cook on Shabbos". Actually, I don't remember seeing this anywhere else. So why music?

Answer 1

Maybe because early Jewish recordings were mostly cantorial style, and there was a serious concern that people would play recordings of Shabbos and Yom Tov liturgy on those days.

Also, perhaps it is psychologically more disturbing to think that someone will play a recording that makes your voice speak on Shabbos.

Answer 2

The March 20, 2013 issue of Mishpacha magazine contains the following anecdote in an interview of the singer Avrohom Fried, regarding the events preceding the production of his first album, "No Jew Will be Left Behind," in 1981:

[He] kept his plan quiet. But he wrote a letter to the [Lubavitcher] Rebbe explaining his idea, and the Rebbe wrote back wishing him hatzlachah -- and instructing him to print the words "Please do not play this recording on Shabbos and Jewish holidays" on the album.

"It seemed like a strange suggestion," muses the singer. "After all, how many people were there who were into chassidic music but not into Shabbos?"

It was a suggestion that could only have been made by someone who belived that no Jew will be left behind -- that even one transgression by one Yid is too much.

However, the practice seems to have begun even earlier, as the 1973 debut album of Mordechai Ben David contains the admonition, "Please do not play this record on the Sabbath." Similarly, his 1974 album Hineni states, "Please do not play this record on the Sabbath or Holidays." It's quite possible that this, too, originated with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, as MBD did have some connection with the Rebbe (if my impressions are correct). But this is just conjecture.

Update: I checked the jackets of the early albums of Cantor David Werdyger (MBD's father), and discovered that his 1959 record "T'filo L'Dovid" did not contain the phrase in question, but it did appear in his 1962 record "Songs of the Gerrer Chasidim." So the practice definitely predates Avrohom Fried by at least 19 years.

Answer 3

When a person buys a kosher chicken from a butcher, it is presumed that he will not cook it on Shabbos. I mean, he knows about keeping kosher so he probably knows about Shabbos, too.

CDs, however, are purchased by a wide range of Jews. Unfortunately, not every Jew knows that playing CDs on Shabbos or Yom Tov is not permissible in the Jewish religion.

It's just a little insurance, baby. The Shomer-Shabbos musician will not be happy that another Jew is violating Shabbos to hear his/her music!

By the way, don't read this answer on Shabbos or Yom Tov!

Answer 4

According to the book Misguiding the Perplexed by Rabbi Yair Hoffman

A person who broadcasts on a radio show geared towards Jews and is heard on Shabbat is a violation of Lifnei Iver (putting a stumbling block before the blind). (He bases this on Tzitz Eliezer Vol. XVI)

Answer 5

It is possible that the prohibition against microphones and amplifiers applies. The singer would be amplifying his/her voice which would be a prohibition against Shabbat.

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, in Tradition Magazine Spring 1974 has a very famous and seemingly definitive article/responsa on the use of microphones on Shabbat. Unfortunately the article itself can only be viewed with a subscription to Tradition magazine so I can not provide a link, however, below are some of the excepts and summaries that I found from his responsa.

Rav Feinstein distinguished between objects which are in continuous activity, like a water mill, and those which only operate at intervals, like the chiming of a clock. In the former, there is no reason to suspect that the owner has violated Shabbat, since the sound of the mill can be heard continuously from before Shabbat. In the latter, however, there is reason to suspect that the owner set it on Shabbat, since it does not sound continuously. In line with this logic, Rav Sahul Yisraeli reasons that since we follow the Rema’s opinion that we are concerned about creating suspicion, and microphones fall into the latter category (where there are grounds for suspicion since it is not in continuous use), we should forbid the use of microphones.

In the first responsum (Igrot Moshe OC 3:55), Rav Feinstein wrote: “One’s speech causes [the circuit] to contain more electricity, and it is possible that this is a melacha, for the nature of electricity has not been clarified.” In the second (OC 4:84), he elaborated: “The electric current increases according to the volume of the voice ... We can see this when we attach to the microphone another device measuring the current ... We [also] know that the microphone uses more electricity when someone is talking [into it] than it does when not in use. One who employs electricity on Shabbat may violate a biblical prohibition, even where there is no hav’ara; practically speaking, this matter requires thorough investigation.”

He added there, “The voice heard via the microphone is no longer the voice of the speaker, but rather an [electrical] impression of his voice ... This is a possible biblical prohibition - that his voice makes an impression on some component of the microphone. Despite the fact that this is not considered writing, for there are no letters, nevertheless there is reason to suspect a melacha [is involved], since something new has been created by means of which an amplified voice can be heard. Perhaps this violates makkeh b’patish or boneh; [the question of] the actual melacha involved must be analyzed.”

Therefore, if CD players are amplifiers, just like microphones it would be prohibited to play even if the person playing and listening to the cd play is a non-Jew.