Do You Play Sports?

Never – its chukas hagoy.

Kidding, I’m just living up to the Kanoi in my name.

Uhhh…get up…walk to the fridge…open the fridge…close the fridge…walk to the cabinets…open the cabinets…close the cabinets…walk to my desk…swivel around a couple times…get back up…open the fridge…

You get points depending on how many times you complete the circuit per minute.

I can’t resist a good game of basketball when I (rarely if ever) have the time.

This thread is unacceptable. It is not the prerogative of a Yid to be discussing such Goyishe Zachin. People ask me, are sports Assur? Definitely they are! When was the last time you saw Rav Shteinman or Rav Kanievsky playing sports?

It is one thing to play sports surreptitiously for health reasons, but it is entirely another thing to openly discuss it on a yeshiva blog, as your past time. Normally I am quiet as per the sensitivity of this issue. But now I feel I must speak up.

Sports are repulsive. It comes from Greek origins, and causes perspiration.

I admire the people who take a firm position on this issue and stand between the thrower and catcher in no uncertain terms, equipped with a stick and hit the ball far away from the game. I cheer for them.

Talmud said only the least of it. Try to play a sport without being over on most or all of the following:

Bittul zman

Bittul Torah

Taroves

Chukos hagoyim

Kemaase ha’emori

Chilul Hashem

…etc.etc.

yytz: Avraham Ibn Ezra, in a poem, reflecting an earlier version (e.g. the Queen was a Vizier and was much more limited, the “mad queen” of the 16th century was way in the future)

As a kid I’ve always hated sports. Still don’t play. I regret nothing, but it sure is a lot of fun and good health if you aren’t lousy like me!

By playing sports and being active one can add years to his or her life, and thereby have more time to learn/do chessed in later years. It’s not a waste of time, it’s an investment.

I know the gedolim don’t spend their time playing sports, but they don’t spend time in the CR either – does that make it assur? If yes, why are you commenting?

If fitness is the goal, I’ld suggest strength training (weight lifting, calisthenics) and aerobics (such as biking or hiking or running). Sports are fun, and perhaps fun is mutar (I played baseball back in the era when the bats were made of wood and major leaguers took off-season jobs to make ends meet, and I’ld still root for the Dodgers if they ever came back to Brooklyn) – but from a fitness perspective sports all have serious question marks.

MCP, the coffee room is most probably assur (based on what is today’s halacha), as are sports.

Obviously, shnitzy, you are not up on current affairs. Are you aware of the numbers of Rabbonim and Gedolei Yisrael who have banned the internet? And guess where this coffee room is held? Over the internet.

@Secular Frummy – The CR is probably more Assur than sports. My point was that anyone expressing disdain for those of us who play sports on a CR feed has no business being in the CR in the first place.

Zahavasdad: thanks for the Berel Wein anecdote. If anyone has other stories about well-known rabbis exercising or playing sports, please share them.

Rav Nissim Alpert when he was younger used to play basketball

MCP- Very true. Those that are worried about bitul zman or gedolei Yisrael not participating in sports need to realize that the CR is not something that gedolei Yisrael would do either. But, another point, I don’t think that something can be more or less assur. Perhaps the punishment for a given action from beis din can be more or less severe, but ultimately, something that is forbidden is forbidden

Not anymore. I never liked watching sports at all (thankfully, neither does my husband), but in truth, I would far rather PLAY them than watch them. I used to be a pretty fair softball and basketball player for a girl. My best and most favorite games however, were volleyball (I was a GREAT server) and dodgeball (last one standing most of the time). I WISH I could still play, but age, arthritis, and circumstance have decreed that I can only be a spectator these days. But aaah… the memories!

Wolf- bittul torah applies only to men, bittul zman applies equally to men and women.

Playing sports for physical fitness on a regular basis is a good thing, but I cant imagine that its 100% mutar to make leagues as they often lead to fights and arguments and people get very angry when they lose and what not.

I used to golf as well… Although I haven’t picked up a golf club in over three years. If I was able to get membership to a gym, such as curves, then I think it would be a lot better for me because so far, if I have ever wanted a tough workout, I would literally have to fill a backpack with like thirty pounds of stuff and put it on my back and walk a really long distance. During the Jerusalem Marathon, I walked 7 out of the 10k with a 20 pound backpack on my back and then someone carried it the rest of the way (in case you are wondering, this is why I make sure I get a Northface backpack).

In addition to that, when I was in public school, I pushed myself into a strength training class because I wanted to start lifting weights, and I was one of four girls out of a class with 36 people.

I am too busy with work/internship, school, learning, and helping my mother to be worried about shtusim like this.

In the words of a famous Youtube video and FB meme, “Ain’t nobody got time for that.”