The Lipa Ban and the Sanctity of a Contract

Anyone who reads this space knows that I have no use for Shiny Shoe Music and that I wouldn't attend a Shiny Shoe Concert if someone gave me front row seats. So my beef with the Lipa Ban has nothing to do with the fact Klal Yisrael will be deprived of "The Big Event".

(Indeed, while I recognize that these concerts are meant to provide fun outlets to our kids, I think these concerts and some of the shtick that goes on, including having a bunch of pudgy, semi-talented adults in Armani suits and shiny black shoes "dance" around smoke-filled stages, are ridiculous).

(I also have no sympathy for Lipa who routinely violates other JEWISH artists' copyrights (to say nothing of the "goyishe" songwriters) or the producer who has his own inyanim).

What bothers me is that rather than address the issue of concerts in a menshlechkeit, behind the scenes way, the kana'im decided to ambush the concert with two weeks to go causing untold financial damages to many people. They essentially forced Lipa and the other Shiny Shoe performers to breach their contracts with the producers and forced the producers to breach their contract with Madison Square Garden (with no way to mitigate their damages).

Why is inducing breach of conracts made in good faith less of an issur than having a concert? Why is inducing a breach of a contract with gentiles less of a chilul Hashem than putting on a concert? Why is tortious interference with another man's contract acceptable? Is Choshen Mishpat no longer part of the Shulchan Oruch?

The Chareidi press (the same Chareidi press that had no problem taking money for full page concert ads for years) has gotten squarely behind the "Gedolim". Poor Lipa (who is being made out to be a hero for following the Rabbanim when, in fact, he is a pitiful victim of blackmail), submitted to an interview with HaModia to show his support for the ban. It is really shameful.

One Chareidi Jew who I am close to described the ban as a dark day for American Yiddishkeit. Another simply said that one thing is for sure; the ban has nothing to do with G-d.