(VIDEOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)
More than one million followers of the New York Mets twitter account were shown a video of a Frum man catching a foul ball at the game Tuesday night – then immediately handing it to a random child in the row behind him.
The man – seated beside his wife – received a standing ovation from the fans seated nearby.
The Mets tweeted the video and wrote “Ah, so *that’s* how it’s done [wink emoji]”.
Now, catching a foul ball or a home run hit into the stands is a regular occurrence at ballgames.
What made this so unique?
Two days earlier, social media exploded after a video from a Chicago Cubs game went viral. The Cubs first base coach attempted to give a game ball to a young child in the crowd but sadly, neither the kid or his mom were able to catch it. A man sitting behind them then snatched it off the ground as it rolled underneath the seat. The man is seen excitedly handing the ball to his wife, as the child is left disappointed.
Many were quick to vilify the man for his actions.
When going to a baseball game, DON’T be this guy. pic.twitter.com/pAeiRN6Q2X
— Cut4 (@Cut4) July 22, 2018
In response, the Mets used the video of the Frum man giving his ball to a child to show “how it’s done”.
Ah, so *that’s* how it’s done. 😉
(cc: @Cut4) pic.twitter.com/1EyjLVKEH3
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 25, 2018
Full video. Good catch & then a very classy move. Makes me proud even if he’s Mets fan. Watch this & smile.
@MLB #ILoveThisGame @Ken_Rosenthal @RealMichaelKay@keithhernandez @powellnyt @DonLagreca @joshrobin https://t.co/W694pDAuY5— Chaskel Bennett (@ChaskelBennett) July 25, 2018
In a surprising twist, that is not what actually happened at the Cubs game, and the Mets jumped the gun as did the rest of social media.
It turns out, the clip from the 4th inning of Sunday’s Cubs-Cardinals game didn’t tell the complete story everyone assumed it did.
It didn’t show the man in the second row helping the same front-row youngster in the too-big hat get a foul ball in the first inning. It also didn’t show him snagging balls for two other kids seated beside his wife, also total strangers, before he finally kept one for himself.
Eventually the boy’s mother issued a statement through the Cubs on behalf of the family that the man had done nothing wrong. In fact, they were grateful he had helped the boy get a ball earlier.
The Cubs also gave the kid another baseball — signed by a player to boot.
A @javy23baez signed ball should take care of it. #EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/4YzUlG8qfN
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 22, 2018
(Charles Gross – YWN)
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40 Responses
A Kiddush Hashem? You know what a Kiddush Hashem is? When people sit and learn Torah or when 92,000 people gather together for a Siyum Hashas, or when Kedoshim are Mekadesh Shem Shamayim by giving up their lives to be a Jew. That is the definition of a Kiddush Hashem. I would say someone attending a Baseball game which is Chukas Hagoy is a Chilul Hashem. Lets put things into perspective please and dont throw around the term Kiddush Hashem where it dont belong
Kidush Hashem?? Rachmana Letzlan a yid does not belong at a ball game!!!!!
Really class act although I suspect some will question whether the headline writer got carried away as to what constitutes a “Kiddush hashem”.
What’s a bigger chillul hashem than a yid participating in a ball game? בני אל תשמח אל גיל העמים. A real Kidush hashem is from doing Torah and mitzvos not from getting positive attention from goyim.
A from Jew should NOT be at a baseball game altogether chellol aheshem mamish
a frum Jew should be learning Torah and not be on the internet criticizing other Jews
Great lesson on being don lkaf zchus!
While it was a nice gesture
“Lets put things into perspective please and throw around the term Kiddush Hashem where it dont belong”
Agree.It has become overused and thereby diminished
Can you post the video in a format that, those of us that have the Machaneh Kodesh filter can view it?
Agreed. Not sure why this is a Kiddush Hashem.
those of you mocking this and saying it’s not a Kiddush hashem should really go back to yeshiva to understand what that actually means. actually kind of nauseating how clueless most of you actually are.
I think if a frum person wearing a kippa does something very generous and millions of people see this and make the association between his goodness and his being Jewish – it makes a Kiddush Hashem. If you should these same viewers a video of bachuring learning in a Yeshiva, I don’t think it would mean anything to them.
There are 2 ways the term kiddush Hashem is used. The classic meaning of a kiddush Hashem (I believe how chazal and the rishonim define it) is when a Jew does a great act that other Jews witness and can cause other Jews to be inspired and serve Hashem properly. In other words, you are glorying the Name of Hashem by bringing other Jews to serve Hashem and glorify His Name.
Nowadays we generally use the term kiddush Hashem as referring to a Jew who does something that makes Jews look good in the eyes of goyim which is of course also an amazing thing, but not necessarily the same as the classic definition of a kiddush Hashem.
It does NOT have to be seen by other people (Jewish or otherwise). A jew learning Torah or doing a Mitzvah alone is a Kiddush H”. See Rambam.
BoruchSchwartz, perhaps you’ve forgotten the Gemara’s definition of Kiddush Hashem, but KShomron paraphrased it pretty well.
I agree that we give this kind of thing more attention than it deserves, but that’s a charge that can be made without vilifying a random Yid who seems to be a pretty nice guy. In today’s world, for a frum family to go to a baseball game during the summer is a relatively benign way of getting their entertainment. Rav Moshe did not consider baseball games to be prohibited under the rule of Chukoseihem, only under the rules of Peritzus and Bitul Torah. If you would have no problem with someone going to Six Flags, you should have no problem with them going to a ballgame. I am unaware of a Rav who would not allow his followers any form of entertainment which does not entail the same Halachic considerations as going to a baseball game (admittedly, I have no idea what the Chassidim would say about this, but the people in the video don’t seem to be Chassidish).
To realisticguy:
The gemara in sanhedrin says on The posuk ‘למען ספות הרוה את הצמאה לא יאבה ה סלוח לו זה המחזיר אבידה לנכרי
Check what rashi says there and then tell me what a kidush hashem is.
Kiddush HASHEM was a term rarely used when we were younger .So infrequently, that it was pretty much reserved for dying in the Inquisition or the Crusades
It would bother me back then.
Here is from Lord Jackubowitz being nominated to to the House of Lords in 1988
” it is perhaps not surprising
that a second aspect of
kiddush Hashem is today not so
widely recognized. namely our obligations
in being mekadesh
Hashem in the eyes of the gentile
world as well…
The indisputable message of
these passages-as interpreted by
Rashi-is that we as Jews have
been placed on the stage of world
history, and have been spared from
the disintegration which terminated
numerous other peoples, for
one distinctive reason: to be mekadesh
Hashem in the eyes of the
world. Ultimately, then, all the
dedication and efforts in refining
ourselves, in living lives of spiritual
goals ”
Now however we have gone to the other extreme
The above batlanim who are critical of this story have never internalized an iota of Torahs Moshe.
You drek are why tens of thousands of former benei torah are secular now and living with goyim.
With so much difamation, specially Israel putting us in a bad spot many times but always claiming to represent all Jews of the world, its is a kind of kidush hashem, meine briderlech.
pretty sure gemara and rambam say, a kiddush hashem is when a jew does an act that makes people say “praiseworthy person who learns torah”. Know thats not exact loshon but anyone that ever learned enough to feel qualified to know what ISNT a kiddush hashem would know this famous piece.
chareidi amiti:
Can we assume that you, the one using the foul language on a public “frum” forum, believe that you are the reason that there are still so many who are still bnei Torah and NOT living with goyim?
Putin , well said .
It is less obvious however than that
If anything that could be an argument for the contrary
You guys are plain rude. You have no idea why he was at a baseball game. Many people go for various reasons, sometimes work related or simply to regain energy. Im sure many of you dont learn Torah 24/7 and you commenting on this site proves it. But they did get the headline wrong it should read, Kiddush Modern Yeshivish!
FeelS mamash like in yeshiva! Svoros are flying halachos as well. Mamish gevaldig, Ah KIDDUSH HASHEM RIGHT HERE ON YWN. Poskim right here on this site! Mamaish! I just don’t understand? kiddush Hashem in the baseball field, Kiddush Hashem on YWN and I’m sure many other places as well. SO WHY ISNT MASIACH HERE YET! Nu loimdim whats peshat !! Can a goiy also make a kiddush Hashem? Love to hear all the tziduhdim. Will it be a kiddush Hashem if I learn a Blatt Gemora instead of reading ALL the post’s here on this subject or will be bittul Torah?
Someone who does something that would cause the Ribono Shel Olam to be proud of him causes a kiddush Hashem. When the Ribono Shel Olam says בני, אשר בך אתפאר, a kiddush Hashem has been performed! I think this qualifies! Why has at the game is irrelevant and none of anybody’s business but what he did is admirable. Especially in today’s world where Jews do not have the pristine reputation they should have!
Git mishige did you ever learn the sugya of chukas ha got
Please don’t throw around the term chukas ha goy where it doesn’t belong
You people are sickos. Whether or not it is a chillul hashem to be at a game is one thing, to bash him repeatedly is another l. I happen to have been in yeshiva with him, and he is a very nice guy. It is extremely disturbing and disgusting that you all jump on him, using the power of the internet to hide your ugly faces. Absolutely disgusting. Why dont you go attack every single jew walking into a baseball game for a chillul Hashem. Is it because you realize that to protest in front of a baseball stadium would he a chillul Hashem? Then it’s the same here, just because you have the internet as something to hind behind, doesn’t make the lashom hara any less, nor does it make it less of a chillul Hashem.
And right after Tisha Bav? What a bunch of morons.
He was at a baseball game to take a break and relax with his wife. Would you rather he be off the derech and never be able to tell he was a yid, maybe not be at a baseball game, but rather a casino?
Absolutely a dor tahpuchos this dor is.
You criticize a frum yid for handing a baseball to a kid.
Are you out of your cotton picking minds? Do you want him to see this and start hating frum hidden? What a bunch of morons.
Do you have any inkling on how to raise your kids and not have them go off the derech?
Sickos.
Since you are all so quick to jump and say that this is not kiddush hashem, let me tell you what is really NOT kiddush Hashem.
1. taking 2 spots (or more) in parking lots
2. parking in a handicapped zone, even if you have a card, but the handicapped person is not in the car with you. Because of you jerks, really handicapped people cannot park there.
3. This applies to Monsey: Racing up the center lane on route 59, because you are too important to wait for the light behind others, so you just cut everyone off.
4. Stealing from the government.
Many of you are guilty of the above, so spare us all your holier that thou nonsense. If some of us like going to a baseball game, thats none of your business. I can tell you that I have seen Rabbi Krohn at Yankee stadium with his grandkids. NONE of you can hold a candle to him, so please get off the internet and go park your tucheses in BMG, instead of criticizing others.
@BoysWork
How dare you criticize people who sit and learn at BMG?
“Go park your ***?”
That is in the category of mevazeh talmidim chachamim that chazal tell us “Ein Lo…”
You should take off your shoes,
and sit as a menudah until you ask an Adam gadol how to make amends for the manner in which you spoke…
Don’t take it from me. Show your statement to an Adam gadol and ask him how to proceed….
@yzj – Where did you see me being mevazeh talmide chachomim? hmm?
Talmidei Chachomim do not sit on the the internet and criticize others for goiing to a ball game. What I said CLEARLY was, is that those of you trolls who thing you are so holy, get off the internet (after all, it was banned by certain rabbonim), and go sit in BMG. Once again, until you are perfect, NONE OF YOU HAS A RIGHT TO CRITICIZE ANYONE ELSE!
Funny, how you make no issue of the real chilul hashem that I pointed out. Yeshivishe ferd. (oh thats redundant, sorry)
@BoysWork
The language you used was clearly bizui talmidei chachamim, in addition to insinuations of “mai ahani lan rabbanan”. You compounded this with your follow up comment. B”h I do not practice any of the sins you listed. I did attend BMG and I am a lomed umilamed Torah ( yes there are those who do go online with a filter). You should consider yourself to be menudah according to halacha as your statements rise to that level. I would suggest you consult with Rabbi Krohn since you respect him as an authority (I am actually related to him and did attend a game with him as a child many years ago). Please think over your words and make amends for them…..
Chareidi Amiti those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Using foul language to try and make your point only reinforces who you really are.
@yzj: blah blah blah BITE ME. Shabbat Shalom.
@ BoysWork
Very well said. See pirkei avos Perek beis Mishnah yud…
GEVALDIGE KIDDUSH HASHEM BY FAR!!!!
Mi kemachah Yisroel!
Did anyone notice that the US Armed Forces veteran that the Yankees honored before the singing of “G-d Bless America” last night (07/26/2018) was wearing a kippah?
Oh please!! Going to a baseball game is the most pareve activity a Yid can do, I understand not everyone holds of it, but to vilify him is ridiculous. And YES he definitely made a Kiddush Hashem letting the Hamon Am see a Frum Yid acting with derech eretz thereby counteracting the media’s bias against Frum Jews.
Yzj,
Avos 2:10?! What is the connection of the 5 disciples of R’Yochanan ben Zakkai ?
Literally every Jewish camp in the tri state area was at that game.
It depends. If he went to the Met game because he is a Met fan, it’s a Chillul Hashem. Because it shows he has poor judgement. But if he went because he scored cheap tickets, Kol Hakavod….