Singer and songwriter Yonatan Razel performed in front of women at the Nation Buildings four and a half years ago, and in the middle of the performance, he put black masking tape over his eyes - while women in the audience danced. The criticism he received, along with the storm that erupted at the time, took a very high toll on him, almost leading him to retire from performances for secular audiences and to contemplate the future of his career.
In an interview he gave to Raz Schachnik in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper over the weekend, he says: "It was completely traumatic. I was in shock, a kind of shock. I didn't understand how I, a religious singer who from day one sings for everyone, for a mixed audience, who performs a lot in front of only women, could get such a buzz. And it all started as a kind of prank, a joke.
""I went up to sing, in front of about 3,000 women in a sold-out hall. I started performing a bouncy song and they started dancing. Suddenly I noticed that there was discomfort in the audience, because some women are not very comfortable dancing in front of a man. So I told them in the happiest tone: Girls, do you want to go wild, would you like a blind singer like Stevie Wonder? Here you go. Then I yell backstage, 'Bring me a sweater.' I wanted to put on my head and my eyes. They said no. I asked for something to put on my eyes.".
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Razel was offended by the criticism leveled at him after the performance: "At first, I was sure that women who know me would stand up and say, 'We know exactly who Yonatan Razel is. He didn't do anything against us. It was a complete joke.' But that didn't happen. In practice, the result was the opposite. Instead of a joke, I became a symbol of discrimination against women, when the opposite was true.".
Razel avoided then, and in fact to this day, explaining what happened and preferred not to fight back against the attack against him: "Actually, I haven't explained it exactly to this day. I felt that the atmosphere at the time was very, very against me. I sat at home and said, this can't be happening. And think of it, I'm another person who is cut off from all the media, so I didn't see anything of what was going on on the networks. I only heard afterwards. I knew that whatever I didn't say would be interpreted badly. But what was the problem in this specific case? There was such a commotion, that my silence was perceived as an admission of guilt. Instead of them stopping coming at me, I continued to receive punches in the face.".
Thoughts crossed his mind that this was actually the end of his career, he was asked.
""No," he replies, "but I considered taking a break from performing. After the story, there were several times I said to Yael, my wife: Let's do something different, this is such a negative experience, maybe it's better not to perform in the near future, Arik Einstein style. But the rabbis wouldn't let me do it. By the way, there was also an easier option, that I would say okay, from now on I'll only perform for the religious audience, no problem. Easy Going. But both my wife and the rabbis were completely convinced that I shouldn't do it.
""It was definitely a trauma. In the first six months, I mainly thought about how I was going to get through it in the best way possible. There were many conversations late into the night with my wife, friends, and my rabbi. On the work level, it didn't affect me at all, a kind of miracle. I continued to perform as usual, but it bothered me for a very long time. In the end, this hype didn't hold water, because it really had nothing to build on.".
How does the Haredi audience accept that you appear in front of a mixed audience and in non-kosher places?
""I consult with the great rabbis. I don't move alone. All my gentlemen know about all my performances and encourage them.".
