The Super Bowl in Halachah and Hashkafah: Chukos HaGoyim, Moshav Leitzim, and Bitul Torah

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. I'd like to discuss a relevant topic. And even though it's already l'achar hamaaseh, but the hype was so big, I never realized how big it was till I came out into the real world, so to speak. And that is the Super Bowl mania. I never knew it was such a big zach, it was such a big thing, but obviously it's a tremendous hatumah, Super Bowl. I'd like to discuss going to the Super Bowl, following the Super Bowl, in halacha and hashkafa. I will refrain from stating my opinion about it. I will just plead that I'm not big enough to talk. I'm paskening l'maaseh. I'm also too smart for that. I'm way too smart for that. But we'll discuss the sugya, and we'll save amein v'ya'amin, amein v'ya'amin, that's all. The wise ones will understand and take out from the shiur what they need to take out. Let's begin with what could be the problem. Where is the sugya? Where does it start from? It's a pasuk, rabosai. It's a pasuk, Vayikra yud ches, pasuk gimmel, in Parshas Achrei Mos. Kema'aseh eretz Mitzrayim asher yeshavtem bah lo sa'asu, u'chema'aseh eretz Kenaan asher ani mevi eschem shamah lo sa'asu, u'vechukoseihem lo seileichu. Everybody knows the pasuk. Rashi quotes the Toras Kohanim that explains what does it mean, u'vechukoseihem lo seileichu. What does it mean? Zogt Rashi, mah hiniach hakasuv shelo amar? It says, kema'aseh eretz Mitzrayim, so we got already the gist of what's forbidden. We got already clear what's forbidden, what's the hosafah, what's the mosif? U'vechukoseihem lo seileichu, and the answer is, ela eilu nimusim shelahem, their customs. That's chukoseihem, their customs. Devarim hachakukim lahem, things that—it's their lifestyle. Chakukim lahem, it's their culture. Let's use the better word, culture. Examples, and this is where becomes the she'eilah: kegon, for example, tartiyaos ve'atzdiyaos. Tartiyois seems to be theaters. Atzdiyois seems to be coliseums. What? Seems a stadium. Atzdiyois are stadiums. So the question is, you're not allowed to go to theater, and you're not allowed to go to stadium. What's the theater about and what's the stadium about? What's going on in that theater? It doesn't say. It says that you can't go to the tartiyois v'atzdiyois, to the theater and to the stadiums. So if you take a look, the Sifsei Chachamim already explains. He brings from Rashi, tartiyois is where they gather together l'schok u'l'latzon, for entertainment. The words schok and latzon, of course, needs to be defined, but for the argument's sake, for the beginning of the shiur, let's just say simply entertainment, l'schok u'l'latzon. And what is the stadium, atzdiyois? So the Gra, the Maharal, he brings the Sifsei Chachamim, but we'll soon...

See, it's actually based on the Gemaras and the Rashi, is there stadiums where they do bullfighting, or other animals where they gore each other. So we have theater for leitzanus, and we have the stadium for bullfighting. All right, so does that include sports? It's a very nice question, rabosai. I think before we continue discussing what's included in the b'chukoseihem lo seileichu, we need to address that there's actually a second sugya which this involves. One is chukoseihem lo seileichu, like I've just quoted to you, with a Rashi in the Toras Kohanim. But there's actually a Gemara in Avodah Zarah, daf yud ches amud beis. The Gemara says we cannot go to their dinim, which happen to also, we'll soon see, pashtus is for bullfighting. Rashi learns like that, and that's because of Moshev leitzim, which in the Rishonim is muzbar, bitul Torah. It's connected, moshav leitzim, ki im b'seirascha. Only Torah, asher halach b'atzas reshaim, moshav leitzim lo yashav, ki im b'seirasai. So moshav leitzim, because you're not learning. The Gemara actually begins, Tanu Rabbanan, haholech litztadinim u'lecharkein. Here's a new word, rabosai. So stadinim is, like we explained to you, is what? Stadiums. But Rashi says bullfighting. How about the word charkein? What is that? So Rashi explains it's matzor. Matzor, v'oisim sham schok u'letzanus. What's matzor? The Ran explains the word matzor is surrounding; it's round. It's like encamped from around. It's interesting, stadiums are round. I grabbed the ask from the mevinim on the Indian of Super Bowl, because I was fascinated, to me, what it's all about. I hardly knew the whole—I know football, okay? Chlies ha-machlokes what football is in America: football maintains zach, and in Britain it means another zach. Ha-machlokes hapeiskim what football means. In the rest of the countries, it's, I think it's soccer, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, am I talking like an am ha'aretz? I'm saying good, okay, actually, because I, you know, if you catch me on a Tesvis, you got me, but you catch me on this, I apologize. Abel l'maaseh, yeah, it's round, right? I asked somebody, what's the word Super Bowl? Where did the word bowl come from? I always thought it was Super Bowl. It's the word is Super Bowl. I didn't know it's bowl. So I asked him, yeah, l'cheira that's matzor. It comes from the Greek. This is this Gemara. It's this Ran, Rabbeisai. Kolosseum, stadiums were round. It would be, technically, engineeringly, it has to be round. We have to discuss that maybe a different time. But al kol panim, the word matzor. Motzar means around, like encampment from around, it's a ran. And that's how he explains Rashi, and it's for lutzanus. So we have two sugyas. We have one sugya of uvechukoseihem lo seleichu. We have a second sugya, which is Ashrei ish asher lo halach, which the Gemara quotes this pasuk, Ashrei ish asher lo halach b'atzas resha'im, uv'moshav leitzim. So it's either uvechukoseihem, nimusei hagoyim, or we have an issue of moshav leitzim. All right? Wait a second. What is sports? What's sports? How does that go in? So let me show you an interesting Mishnah Berurah, rabosai, in Hilchos Shabbos, no less. Mishnah Berurah says in siman shin zayin, se'if katan nun tes, based on a din in the Shulchan Aruch, shtei tazeh: Shulchan Aruch melitzos u'meshalim shel sichas chulin, books that have in it melitzos, proverbs.

Meshalim, shalsichas chulin, o divrei cheshik, like a sefer, a manual, vchein sefer sifrei milchamos, history books of war, asur likrois בהם בשבת. No, so why am I talking about? I have to do Shabbos. Super Bowls on Shabbos? Says the Shulchan Aruch, v'af b'chol asur, mishum moshav leitzim, which is how Gemara in Avodah Zarah. Says the Mishnah Berurah, what's called a moshav leitzim? V'chol shekein haholech l'tatriaus, and here's a new word, okay? Remember we said, what? Karkisios, a new word. Okay, so we have a new word. This is what I guess the version of the karkum, even though it's spelled differently. One's spelled with a chaf, this is spelled with a kuf. But the Mishnah Berurah explains to me what is this that's asur, and it's actually a Magen Avraham, and the Magen Avraham is exactly word for word that the Mishnah Berurah brings. Mehei minei schok, it has to do with schok, v'shaar minei tachbulos. I still don't know what that means, by the way. Until today, I'm not sure what that word in the Mishnah Berurah means. It's actually the word of the Magen Avraham, unless the word chavalah, chavalah, I don't know, maybe it means that they're fighting gladiators. It has to do with the sugya of the gladiators from, huh? Ah, so that's a big shailah. The Minchas Yitzchak, many acharonim, Gedolei Acharonim say that it's about nitzachon. Tachbulah is about, so it's about a winning, a game, and therefore he asers chess. Mechas Yitzchok says you're not allowed to play chess, not on Shabbos, and possibly not even on the weekdays. Mechas Yitzchok. Now, I'm not going to asser chess. I'm not going to asser chess, chaversai, but I'm going to tell you that the word tachbulos opens up a more broader aspect to what the issur really is. It doesn't have to be necessarily schoyk, but it's also about tachbulos. So let's talk l'maaseh. Does anything about the Super Bowl fit into the issur of uvchukoseihem lo seileichu? Does it fit into the issur of Moshav leitzim? And with all the definitions of all the different types of venues that the Mishnah Berurah, as well as the Gemara and the Rashi, talk about, does any of it include the Super Bowl? Rabosai, there's a teshuvah from the Rosh Yeshiva zatzal, Rav Moshe. The Rosh Yeshiva zatzal was asked the she'eilah not about the Super Bowl per se, but sports bichlal. Is there an issur to go to follow the sports in the sports stadium? Rav Moshe, the Rosh Yeshiva has a teshuvah about it. The Rosh Yeshiva writes as follows: Im asur mitzad uvchukoseihem lo seileichu, laleches l'tiyatron vitzdadin sport b'yameinu. Rav Moshe, in the teshuvah, Chelek hei, siman yud aleph. Actually it's in Yoreh Deah, teshuvah Yoreh Deah, chelek daled, siman yud aleph. So the yeshiva is a tremendous chiddush, and in order to understand the chiddush, it's important to learn a Rama in Hilchos עכום. What's included in u'vchukoseihem lo seileichu? What is it? What is that issur? So the Rama in Hilchos Chukos HaOvdei Kochavim, siman kuf ayin ches, the Rama in se'if aleph explains from the Marik that there's two things that constitute the issur of u'vchukoseihem lo seileichu. I quote you the Rama. The Rama says, and this is actually from a Marik, shoresh pei ches: Yehei muvdal meihem b'malbushav uv'shaar ma'asav. A Yid must be separate. He must be different in his clothing and in his actions. V'chol eino asur ella b'davar shenohag bo ovdei kochavim l'shem pritzus. First criteria that it should be included in u'vchukoseihem lo seileichu, it needs to be that it was done l'shem pritzus, kegon shenahagu lilbosh malbushim adumim.

Red clothing, v'hu malbish sorim kedoimer. This is problem issue, criteria number one. Criteria number two, אי, בדבר שנוהגו למנהג לחוק, ואין טעם בדבר. It's done for no reason. It's their customs, and it's not based on anything. That's just the way we do it. It's our culture. You want to ask me something? Oh, I thought you wanted to ask me something. Sorry. The ikar l'mechashbei mishum darkei haEmori. It's a chashash because of darkei haEmori, which is avodah zarah. Zogt Rishiva Ramesha, so the sports do not include neither of the two. Zogt Rishiva, therefore you cannot forbid participating in the sports venues, in a stadium, because of u'vchukoseihem lo seleichu. We're not going to discuss, from, again, limited knowledge that I have, is that there's a lot of pritzus there as well. I don't necessarily know 100%, but I've been told, and I don't want to mislead anybody. But again, if it's not pritzus per se, and if it's not b'loi taam u'b'loi—there's no reason, and it could have to do with darkei haEmori—there's a problem of u'vchukoseihem lo seleichu. Zogt Rishiva Ramesha, therefore the sports venues have no such issue. Yet the Rishiva does conclude, and this is a little bit tricky because it's hard to read. It's hard to know exactly what the Rishiva meant over here. He says, Shevadi lo shaychi lehalavdim b'chukoseihem lo seileichu. We can't forbid it because of uvchukoseihem. And lahem isur l'tzanus u'bitul Torah, which is the other reason, the Gemara in Avodah Zarah, l'tzanus u'bitul Torah. V'gam lo isur gadol yesh, d'magri yetzer hara shel arayos b'nafshei, d'ruban heim divrei nibul peh v'asot l'arayos. Did he mean going back on the stadium, the sports, or maybe he just went referring back to the theater? Not really clear over here how to read this teshuva, the Roshiva's answer. I know many use this teshuva to forbid going to the sports arena, because even if the Roshiva, even if R' Moshe writes that it's not darkei ha'amori, it's not a b'chukoseihem lo seileichu, but it has in it the other problems of l'tzanus and bitul Torah, and it's magri yetzer hara shel arayos. It's not clear. Could be he's going back on the theater, not necessarily the stadium, even though it reads, it flows, that it seems to be going back on both. V'hainu, Rabosai, even if we ignore or permit the b'chukoseihem lo seileichu, we still have the inyan of the l'tzanus and the bitul Torah. So the question is, Rabosai, what's l'maaseh? What's l'maaseh? So again, I think I would do justice to the sugya by quoting to you two pieces of Torah from Reb Elchanan. Rabbel Chanan, in ikvesa deMeshicha, which is Rabbeisei now, okay? We're in Mashiach's times. So much complication, so much difficulty. There's a lot of nisyonos, a lot of tzaros. Things don't go smooth for anybody. Quotes Reb Elchanan. There's a pasuk, Al tismach Yisrael al gil ka'amim. Yidden, how are you supposed to find happiness? Yidden, how are you supposed to find enjoyment? And let's even use the broader term, entertainment. Al gil ka'amim. You can't find entertainment like the goyim find entertainment, says Reb Elchanan, pshat. But what are we supposed to take a lesson from this? Aloi liYehudi, lis'anek k'derech shemis'angim hagoyim. Entertainment of a Yid is not the same as entertainment for a goy. Legoyim nesharei shois pnuyos acher garmes avodasam. They need to find things to take up time.

After their work. And they mechapsim sha'ashuim u'mischakim. They search sha'ashuim, mischakim, games. Rabbi Chanan is getting more and more definite, definitive, and where the problem might be: mischak, games. U'man b'loises ha'shois ha'pnuyos, to take up their time. HaYehudi ein lo sha'ah pnuyah b'chayav. You notice that they make it on a day that nobody works. Sunday, it's midday. Why? Because you can't have Mishnah and tzait fun der arbet, right? You can't take away time. It has to be on time when you're not working. Yedalach. We work 24/7. We have what to work. We don't have that. In case we need time off, so we have to take time off as a supplement to try to help us to learn Vayter, but there's no such thing as a time off. I remember, I had a rebbe in Long Beach yeshiva, Rav Cooper. Rav Cooper told me a me'eredige thing that he witnessed, he saw by Reb Aharon. Reb Aharon Kotler was a tzaddik of rochah, a maaseh. A guy came to Reb Aharon and he said, Rebbe, I have to leave seder yeshiva because I have to pick up my father, or my—whatever the story was—he had to pick up a relative from the airport. So Reb Aharon asked him, Wait a second. Why can't your father pick up this relative? Why? He says, Wait a minute, my father? My father's working. Says, How about your mother? Why can't your mother pick up this relative? I said, My mother? My mother has a job. She works. He says, Good. How about this uncle, the shvag? He says, He works. What do you mean? He has a job. He can't leave. How about this one? How about that one? So Reb Aharon looked at him and said to him, Everyone works. Du bist eins gebatlen. Du bist eins gebatlen. Everybody's... you have nothing what to do. It's a certain mentality that we take on, that we have free time. We don't have free time. There are times that we have to take off to relax, but somehow we have free time to waste. We don't have that. He said, A mentioned yeshiva has to believe that he has work too. Yeshiva says avodah. He's sitting and working. Teicharbet. And of course, in the broader sense of the term, every Yid has avodah. He's busy. ... Daf lernen, daf davenen. Kitzur, Reb Elchonon continues, A Yehudi ein lo sha'ah ponui b'chayav. He has no free time. You're finished working, so now you have to sit and learn. Mi she'eino mukhshar lilmod, if someone can't learn, bo'ifen atzmoi, on his own, ya'aseh lo rav. Let him go find a pshir, a rebbe, something to teach him. So much Torah out there on the radio and on the telephone and on the internet. There's so much that a person is able to—there's so much that they're just throwing it at us. I don't know if you realize the amount of Torah that a person has access to all the time, 24 hours a day, in all types of Torah, and such interesting things. If a guy does—he's tired of learning halacha, drush and stories of Chazal and ma'aseh tzaddikim. It's unbelievable. The technology, the technology gives us the ability to mamash any type of Torah at any given moment. So let's say, forget about learning, says Reb Elchonon. Okay, you know what? Okay, you can't learn tonight. It's Sunday night, Super Bowl night. Can't ללמוד. I'm pressing my agenda. I apologize. Let me take back the word Super Bowl. Okay, forget about that. I'm not trying to say a psak halacha, okay? But you have free—you can't learn tonight, okay? ... So go do something positive. Ligmol chesed. Kefi achalta haTorah tevaas maYehudi tzuras chayim. Life has to have structure.

Yiddishkeit tzu zich, tzuras chaim. ... there's a certain tzurah of a Yid lived, the way he lives his life, the things that he's involved with. Yiddishkeit. Kedoshim tihyu, hayehudi yei kadosh, habayis hayehudi yei kadosh, kol lev Yehudi yei kadosh. And he says, that's ... lihyos li, because if im atem mufdalim min ha'amim, harei atem sheli. B'kufa acharonah chadim lilmod Torah, memeila nishras zman panui. People have a concept in today's times, already Rabbanim are writing that people think there's time, free time. Memeila ba'im Yehudim, mema'alin bamineihem bati sha'ashuim v'tiatronim. So they go to the theaters, they go to places where sha'ashua, they have fun, fun. Chozrim misham l'bateihem sfugim ruach tumah. What comes from it? Not much, only ruach tumah. Memeila it's b'ta'am ha'bayis hayehudi. Hateshuvah, and this is why I think it's very important, I read this because it's such a classic line from Reb Elchonon: Hateshuvah min haShamayim. The Ribbono Shel Olam is screaming from Shamayim: Ki mitzorayim higrashum haYehudim mibatei hasha'ashuim. Yehudim, suru mipoh. The Ribbono Shel Olam is screaming, run away, lo kan mekomchem. This is not where you belong. Komei shel haYehudi is b'veis hamedrash, sham yehegeh baTorah, rak al ponim, not a kapitel Tehillim. That's where you belong. I wanted to read you another piece of Reb Elchanan al haBeis. And yes, we will end on time today. There's an interesting Reb Elchanan in Kovetz Shiurim, no less, in Kovetz Shiurim, siman mem-zayin, chelek beis. Reb Elchanan addresses the question, b'kitzur: so why do people think it's mutar? He almost wonders to himself, and that's, rabosai, part of what I hear: alatundas. Everybody tells me everyone is doing it. Who doesn't? Everyone is going. Reb Elchanan writes, b'inyan halicha l'teatriyos, kvar huzharnu, and he brings the pasuk that he brings in ikvesa d'Meshicha, Al tischakku ba'amim, levad ma sheyesh bazeh mishum megarei yetzer hara b'nafshei, which was, remember, the yeshiva quoted this nekudah, u'mishum moshav leitzim, v'hamikra tzavach, Al tislotzu. The pasuk screams at us. Veyadua sheb'doiros hakodmim hisrachku avoseinu mizeh b'chol minei richuk. There was a time and a place where a Yid, he looked at it as strange; he didn't belong there. I remember such Yidden, rabosai. I remember sitting in the back of a beis medrash where European Yidden were discussing if they should go to a baseball game. Whatever it is, everyone knows what this is. I remember one Yid telling the other Yid, But you're going to feel out of place there. I don't know how you're going to feel. There was a certain richuk, a Yid, that this isn't a Yiddishe zach. Can I tell you something is awesome in a Torah? I'm not a posek. I'm not a posek. I could just give you the mareh mekomos. I could just tell you to look. ... good klarem ... Is that a Yiddishe zach? Is the way it's taken, the way it's built up, is that Yiddish? So where does it come from that everyone doesn't seem to say, My pat is volt nisht getan, says Reb Elchanan, v'lo naasah davar zeh keheter, ela mipnei she'avru v'shanu bah. Because over the years, over the years, it becomes in, it becomes normal. A lot of things that we grew up, that our fathers would never do, nu, for us, why? Because every year it's done, and the more it's done, it's done. I'm gonna end with an interesting Yalkut Rabbeisi. There's a Yalkut in Rus. What was the one thing that Rus told Naomi, that no matter what you try to push me away, I'm gonna be a Yid.

I'm becoming a ger, and I'm going to follow. What was the one thing? No, you know what it is? V'chol asher tomarchi eileich, zogt the Medrash, this Gemara. She was trying to say, Biti, my daughter, don't. We don't go to theaters. We don't do all this entertainment. We don't have this entertainment, which is a good shaila, rabbeisai. What do you mean? I thought it's aser. So maybe we can have a yeshiva ... if it's about Talmud Torah, women don't have Talmud Torah. Well, we can't. ... I'm just, I'd rather hold some ... rabbeisai. What's the pshat? Biti, we don't go. What do you mean we don't go? You're not allowed to go. What do you mean you don't go? ... I mean, if it's what the Gemara refers to, and she's quoting the Gemara in Yud-Zayin in Avodah Zarah, and the ... say the Torah is ... aser, unless for women ... That's what I'm saying, because ... And what does she say? ... the derech. Notice she didn't talk about the yetzer. What'd she talk about? The derech. It's not derech. It's ... So, ... rabbeisai, you look at the Medrash. It doesn't say anything about issurim. And what did she answer back? ... V'lodukes v'lichkein, and ... v'lichkein. In the other place, the other places, I won't go. So obviously, if you can tell, I definitely was not saying one side over another side. Pretty clear. I think it was clear which way I was going with this, ... I understand. And I know it's not easy. It's never easy. Peer pressures. And it's a ... I don't have that yetzer hara, ... I understand that too. ... Certain things are Yiddish. Certain things is derech avoseinu. ... You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.