“It’s permitted when your kavanah is not to disgrace or belittle someone but to warn others about their faults. In that case, it’s not a sin. It’s a mitzvah.”

“Before you tell me what’s going on, tell me this, Basha: Is it true?”

Basha pulled down her headscarf, tucking in a few gray hairs, as if to shore up her piety against accusations from a bad conscience. “It might have some seeds of truth. After all, I heard it from so many people, and not just the usual yentas.”

Fruma Esther braced herself. “What are they saying?”

“That she is bringing secular music into the house, and they are … dancing wildly.”

Fruma Esther swallowed hard. “What exactly does that mean?”

“What part?”

“Every part! Vus is dus ‘secular’ and ‘they’ and ‘wildly’?”

“I don’t know the details. The neighbors complained the music was loud and noisy, and the children, Chasya and Mordechai Shalom, and even Leah, were jumping up and down.”

“So they were playing a game, having fun?”

“It’s more than that. The children were naked, and she had no head covering.”

Fruma Esther inhaled a sharp, involuntary gulp of breath. “The doors were open?”

“No, of course not. But the windows had the shades up.”

“They are on the second floor! Who could look in?”

“People in the apartments across the way.”

“How can they see anything? They’re across the street.”

“The neighbors came up to complain about the music, and when Leah finally opened the door, they saw the children.”

“She opened the door without her hair covering?”

Basha shook her head. “Not exactly. They said it was ‘loose’ and her bangs hung down over her eyes, and a few red curls were hanging down her back.”

“So the noise upset them. This is not a crime. They make loud Purim parties and no one complains.”

“It wasn’t just the noise. It was the music.”

There was, as far as Fruma Esther knew, no prohibition against listening to secular music, as long as it wasn’t religiously based like church music or Hare Krishna chants, and as long as the lyrics didn’t have any lascivious or foul language. Lustful songs, shira agavim, were another category. Anything that aroused the sexual desire was banned completely, especially when children were around.

“No halacha prevents us from listening to music, Basha.”

This, of course, was true, and both women knew it. But they also knew the problem went far deeper.