Mundialito Musings (Column 569)
Dedicated to two anonymous Jerusalem Jews in black hats,
Beitar Jerusalem fans, who are likely no longer with us. May their memory be blessed!
Yesterday a sublime event of sanctifying God’s name occurred: Israel’s under-20 national team beat Brazil and advanced to the semifinals of the Mundialito. While we all rejoiced wholeheartedly, for the miracle that happened to us “in those days and at this time”, Rabbi Ilay Ofran came and, in a piercing column—in both senses—pricked a hole in the incendiary balloons of joy floating over our skies. A veritable Jewish Iron Dome. Thus it is described on the Srugim website:
| The rabbi of Kvutzat Yavne and head of the Ruach HaSadeh pre-military academy, Rabbi Ilay Ofran, strongly protests the celebration by many of his friends following the Israeli team’s achievement, saying that an achievement attained through desecration of Shabbat is a great shame.
Rabbi Ofran, who generally presents a liberal voice, wrote: “I vehemently oppose any religious coercion and I am not interested in any religious legislation, and precisely because of this I insist on saying—desecration of Shabbat not in my name, not for me, not in my honor.” Rabbi Ofran referred to the celebrations of his acquaintances: “I hear many of my friends, among them even God-fearing and observant people, getting emotional over the Israeli team’s victory today, and I wonder on what basis they permitted themselves to watch and take part in this mass desecration of Shabbat?” “A sporting achievement, however great, by the official national team of the Jewish state, attained through desecration of Shabbat, is not Israeli pride but a great shame.” |
Well, it turns out that liberal rabbis are also rabbis, and they too can protest desecration of Shabbat (God forbid). A rare voice in our parts. But upon further thought, two reflections arose in me about the matter. My thoughts sharpened precisely because of my great respect for Rabbi Ofran and the things he usually writes.
The feeling that arose in me was of overblown—and even odd—righteousness. True, Haredi and religious players did not participate there, and certainly if it had been on a weekday then the famed striker of Elitzur Kvutzat Yavne together with the center back of Shimshon Ponevezh would have starred in the match. But given that the match was held on Shabbat, it is still an impressive achievement: even without the above-mentioned stars and with the help of two cousins (as it was said: “No Arabs, no goals”)[1], and with God’s help of course, we managed to overcome the wicked Brazilians. That’s something! “And if it is empty, it is from you.”
What exactly is the problem?
As noted, this seemingly obvious protest strikes me as overly righteous. Indeed, Jews desecrating Shabbat is regrettable. It reflects a problematic reality in which most Jews are not committed to halakha. On the other hand, we all knew that this was the situation even before this match. Should every achievement attained by Shabbat-desecrators, or even achieved through actual desecration of Shabbat, merit the same reservation? I’m not even talking about the Eurovision, which was a disgrace on the human level (and not specifically the Jewish one. On this occasion, I join Gafni’s heartfelt call to collect money to buy clothing and hire a more reasonable and educational choreographer for Noa Kirel and her parents), but hey: our state sometimes operates on Shabbat as well. Religious coercion has yet to take over everything.
I’m not talking here about Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball games, where there is a majority of non-Jews (though perhaps one could discuss the halakhic status of a “fixed” situation, like throwing a stone into a group—considered half Jews and half non-Jews—but with a non-discernible minority perhaps there is room to be lenient), Africans-Ashkenazim who play for us, and their salary is certainly paid in a properly subsumed manner. On the contrary, those righteous gentiles spare the Jews from desecrating Shabbat (as our Gashashim—some of blessed memory and some, may they live—said about volunteering in the civil guard: “This isn’t a job for Jews”), and at most the gentile coach issues an amira le-nokhri there. But a double rabbinic prohibition (shvut de-shvut) for the sake of a mitzvah is permitted, and there is no mitzvah like sanctifying God’s name. But all that is in basketball. By contrast, on the under-20 national soccer team, at least for now, there is a majority of Jews (they haven’t yet hit upon the idea of mass naturalization; there is still room to “improve”), and there it would seem there is, indeed, actual desecration of Shabbat.
Consider, for example, the Saturday-Culture town-hall events (Shabatarbut), some of which perhaps allow participation by Shabbat-observers, but many of which do not. Many such events are conducted with desecration of Shabbat, and yet I assume that Rabbi Ofran, like me, would be glad to see more of them in our parts. At least I see this as a blessed activity (I believe that was also the spirit of the Gavison–Medan Covenant). It turns out that most Israelis see Shabbat as a day that isn’t entirely mundane, but not in the sense of the 39 categories of labor and their derivatives. For many, it’s a timeout for culture, sports, hikes, and other activities that generate the atmosphere of Shabbat in Israel. Some, after Kiddush and/or prayer, head out to these activities, and whether we like it or not, that is their Shabbat. This did not begin with this match. Sporting events often take place on Shabbat, and it is part of our lives.
Protesting such Shabbat desecration seems to me about the same as protesting Shabatarbut. I would be happy if all Israel observed Shabbat, but to protest Shabbat desecration in its halakhic sense is, in my view, disconnected. Most of Israel’s achievements were produced by Shabbat-desecrators, and some by people who publicly repudiate Shabbat. People who never mention Heaven, whose deeds are done on Shabbat and more. I’m not even talking about food and wine competitions where devourers of non-kosher fare win prizes at home and abroad, people whose wine is at least stam yeinam.
It’s interesting to compare this with another incident that actually stirred in me great appreciation and joy. Students from AMIT Modi’in withdrew from a prestigious robotics competition because participating would have forced them to desecrate Shabbat. This, by itself, sounds basic to me: that a religious student would not even consider desecrating Shabbat for some competition is truly elementary. But the manner in which they did so definitely constituted a sanctification of God’s name, and they rightly earned much admiration for it. Yet here we are talking about appreciating an act of sanctifying God’s name by students who are committed to halakha. I have no expectation, and certainly won’t launch a protest, when people who are not committed to observing Shabbat (among them the cousins, as noted) do not keep Shabbat and break into the dance of play. By the way, the game itself is perhaps a “bold step,” and even that is likely permitted (for the sake of oneg Shabbat), but it does not constitute outright desecration of Shabbat. Around it, of course, there is—yet that is true of almost any activity nowadays. Perhaps there is room to discuss mowing the grass as a psik reisha, or various rabbinic prohibitions and questions of “Shabbat character” (tzevi’on) (see the problems with those in Column 275), but when dealing with people for whom Shabbat simply is not part of their life picture, this looks like detached nitpicking. About the same as refusing to cross at a crosswalk on Shabbat because it causes a driver to stop the car and light the brake lights. We’re talking about a driver who causes 10,000 ignitions in the engine in a minute of driving and who, were he not driving, would likely be at a barbecue.
A nuanced view
Even if one wishes to express reservations about Shabbat desecration, I would have expected Rabbi Ofran to present a more nuanced picture. There is a very fine achievement here for the Israeli team in the sporting realm, only it was attained through Shabbat desecration. One could, of course, disqualify it under the rubric of a mitzvah achieved through a transgression (mitzvah ha-ba’ah ba-averah)—idea: propose to FIFA to annul wins achieved by Jews on Shabbat. True, this is something uncommon, and the sages did not decree in such a case. But perhaps we should forfeit them of our own accord, as the moralists recommended with regard to learned ideas that pop into your head during prayer?…—or at least spare the sanctification of God’s name and refrain from shouting “There is a God!” while doing the victory-splash in the municipal square fountain (Gashashim, there, there). But protesting the Shabbat desecration here sounds to me detached and off the mark.
Consider that instead he could have wished them (as the head of the Yeruham council did) to go from strength to strength, and just as they ascended to Liga Alef, they should continue and ascend to Liga Bet and then to Liga Gimel, and so on, up to Liga Qit 119b. The advantage here is that you present yourself as someone who understands nothing about this—just like rabbis have always done (“I heard there’s something called Facebuk, or something like that, that the young flock surf on, like the waves of the sea,” and so on in that vein)—and then you can talk about soccer without being suspected of heresy or time-wasting (God forbid).
This reminds me of a delightful story that happened to my buddy from the Midrashiya (one class above me). He girded his loins and donned military fatigues (which, as is well known, are like the High Priest’s vestments) and hitchhiked to Mount Hermon right after the Yom Kippur War. To our great good fortune, the diligent reporters of our young television filmed a segment featuring soldiers skiing in the snow on Mount Hermon, with the star of the piece being that very fellow, of blessed memory in my mind, a fresh 16-year-old sapling. When he returned to the closed institution where we were staying at that time in Pardes Hanna, his (Haredi) ram (homeroom rebbe) met him and said: “So-and-so, soldiers skiing in the snow, huh?!” Our hero didn’t bat an eye and immediately answered him in kind: “Listen, Rabbi, you won’t say that I was at Hermon in uniform, and I won’t tell that you watched television.” And here I am, the scamp and gossipmonger, revealing a secret that ancient days had covered.
On the grandfather syndrome and psychologism
This story reminds me of the well-known quip of Rabbi Ofran’s grandfather (the third Isaiah, of blessed memory) who said: “Twenty-two lunatics are chasing one ball. Why not give them another 21 balls so they’ll stop fighting?” I’ve heard many rabbis quoting this witticism as if it were a gem from a brilliant “Eretz Nehederet” or Monty Python sketch, and I’m sure that had they known its source they would not have let it cross their lips. I think in that period it was more popular in yeshivot than the Rambam’s “wonderful point” in his Commentary to the Mishnah, Keritot.
Is that famous disdain of the grandfather—for soccer and soccer culture—what is speaking through the grandson? Perhaps it’s a statement meant to express alienation, like the grandfather’s and all those who quoted him (as if to say: I’m not part of that lowly culture, though secretly I know it well and even take an interest in it—God forbid). This is indeed psychologism, and I tend to denounce that kind of explanation. But psychologism is objectionable only where it replaces arguments on the merits. Where problems arise in the argument on the merits, there may nonetheless be room to look for the key in psychology (Rabbi Ofran himself, as we recall, is a psychologist).
At my advanced age I no longer share that disdain, and perhaps that’s the psychological explanation for my reservation about Rabbi Ofran’s words. In my eyes, a sporting achievement is certainly an achievement and a source of joy, and sport is an arena in which admirable qualities and abilities are expressed. The mocking descriptions intended to broadcast ignorance or contempt (see above) are not my cup of tea. True, my main interest is basketball, and in soccer I’m merely an ignorant enthusiast; still, I certainly understand those who are interested and to whom it matters (see my words in Column 13, which, by the way, deals with the father of one of the players on the team that won yesterday: the former player Haim Revivo, may he live long).
Back to the dedication
As I write these lines I recall an incident from when I was about 16, during one of your faithful servant’s many escapes from the Midrashiya to Jerusalem (as it is said: “Our feet were standing within your gates, O Jerusalem,” but our feet were running from the gates of illustrious Pardes Hanna—see the film “The Midrashiya”, which, God willing and without vows, will be discussed again). On those evenings I was walking, a potential conscript in all innocence, on King George Street near the big intersection with Jaffa Street, and suddenly my breath was cut short. My fleshly ear picked up two middle-aged, respectable Jews in fedoras (then quite common. In retrospect I estimate they were about 60 or so, a bit younger than I am today) conversing learnedly and excitedly about Beitar Jerusalem’s win or loss the day before. I froze on the spot, thunderstruck. There are “uncles” who talk about soccer—and I knew it not?! It never occurred to me that anyone over 18 still dealt with such nonsense.
Apparently my mind had been fattened on sayings in the spirit of Leibowitz, and I saw in all this childish frolic. To this day I tend to belittle the phenomenon of fandom, at least the fanatical sort, and I regard it as somewhat childish, animalistic, and rather primitive. At least not something to talk about out loud (even if it nests quietly somewhere in the recesses of your heart—don’t tell anyone). But sport itself, and in particular the fine achievements attained in it, no longer receive that juvenile scorn from me. Well, I have recently reached the age of those two fellows (who are likely no longer with us).
Therefore this column is dedicated to their memory. May these words be a light for the elevation of their pure souls and stand for their destiny “at the end of days” (but not the extreme right, “La Familia,” heaven forfend), amen.
[1] I must say, the third goal—the one scored by a pure-bred Jew, Dor Turgeman is his name, which shall be known in Israel and the whole world—was truly one for the pantheon. Even an ignorant enthusiast like me (who, in the middle of the NBA Finals, found time to watch clips) understands that this belongs to Messi’s league. So the Jews do know better, after all.
Discussion
And what about the tremendous religious fervor revealed in the stormy singing of “How good is the Lord”??? Is that a trivial matter in your eyes?
https://twitter.com/ChaimSmierc/status/1665206308490887169
Maybe if there were a “begins with disgrace and ends with praise” here, there would be something to talk about.
Fortunate are we that we have merited to see “a dwelling in the lower realms,” in both senses of the phrase.
Reflections at the speed of light
Our rabbi reflects at the speed of light. One could say “mountain-reflects,” and also “raises objections.”
I hope that even our rabbi will agree that Niels Bohr did well to abandon soccer in favor of physics.
And since our teacher Leibowitz was mentioned, let us add something from the Delia.
They said to Leibowitz in one of the interviews: “All of Israel travels abroad on Passover.”
And Leibowitz said: “Why are you excluding me from ‘all of Israel’? I’m not traveling.”
And since our teacher Michael wrote: “while all of us rejoice and are glad over a complete building…” – I came to remind you
that there are also those who do not. There are those who, to their great shame, did not know such a game was even taking place (until Michi woke me up).
Good tidings.
Some have the reading “Hor ha-Har,” and some have the reading “Aroer.”
An innocent question
Why doesn’t the rabbi share in this disdain?
Does the rabbi see value in these things, and if so, what value?
Does the rabbi see value in watching sports?
Does the rabbi look down on someone who follows the data and reads statistics and analyses and the like?
As I understand it, Rav Ofran’s criticism is not about Sabbath desecration as such,
but rather about the fact that God-fearing people are happy and proud of the game even though it took place through blatant Sabbath desecration, and moreover that it is forbidden to watch that game. This is completely different from how Rav Michi presents the matter.
He really does not mean to protest Sabbath desecration as such, which after all is an everyday occurrence (every seventh day…)
I was stunned when I saw Rav Ofran’s words, and I couldn’t restrain myself from speaking in the man’s favor in my heart. May the Holy One forgive me for taking honor in my fellow’s disgrace.
I’ll try to explain why this phenomenon seems ridiculous to me, without lapsing into psychology or ad hominem argument as much as possible:
I am not bothered by the criticism itself, which from the pure halakhic and faith perspective is certainly correct. And if I had heard this moral rebuke from a kiruv rabbi, a Hidabroot rabbi, a Hardali rabbi, or even a heavy Gush-type rabbi, strict with both minor and major matters, producing many students and crying out over the condition of the Jewish people while integrating general knowledge and openness (and there are such types, as there were Rabbis Amital and Lichtenstein, of blessed righteous memory).
But when this rebuke comes from a figure like Ilai Ofran, the disconnect from reality and lack of self-awareness cry out and are disturbing—very disturbing. Rav Ofran cries out about Jews desecrating the Sabbath and/or about the joy of religious Jews—or more precisely, about their active or indirect participation in Sabbath desecration while enjoying it.
This is the same rabbi who less than a year ago wrote a post saying he was troubled by the common principle of loving the person but not his identity. He attacked the, in his view, paradoxically tolerant people who love every secular Jew as a Jew, as a child taken captive, but look askance at the secular lifestyle itself—and needless to say, hope it will disappear from the world. Who respect every individual Arab but hate the Arab nation as a hostile nation. Who see the Reform movement as destructive, yet are willing to engage with them on certain general issues. That same Ofran wrote emphatically that this strips a person of all his garments and of his identity—and that it is impossible to love human beings as human beings without drawing closer to their ideology and seeing it as legitimate in some sense. Have my eyes gone blind and this is not the same person?
Is this not Rav Ofran who went around the United States in excited photographs with Reform women rabbis in their temple and issued a call, with shining eyes, to be inclusive and loving toward “all the streams,” and to “stop being so exacting”? Is this not the same Rav Ofran who wrote in that very same post that what he is seeking is “more Judaism of love and fewer stringencies” (and let’s not play innocent here, friends, and say that in those cases he was acting with classic Lithuanian tolerance toward sinners, because we know clearly from the very wording of those posts that the man was actually calling to grant full a priori legitimacy to Jewish ways of life that do not observe Torah and mitzvot. And even if not: rejoicing that a Reform temple exists in which heretical statements are expressed, and smiling for the camera with a woman rabbi who is not Jewish according to halakhah and encourages members of her community to intermarry—those two are also halakhic prohibitions whose severity is in no way lessened. I mean heresy and intermarriage—than the severity of Sabbath desecration).
I don’t think this is hypocrisy, but rather emotions that do not come from common sense. Emotions so deeply emotional—of injury to the sanctification of the Sabbath from grandmother’s house, and trampling the dream of a people that is “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” such that at least all its public, willingly—and certainly the believing public—never forgets, not even for a brief moment in the depths of its heart, the sanctity of the Sabbath.
Truth be told?
That’s perfectly fine. Every rabbi, every public figure, and every person generally—as objective as we all try to be, and even those among us who have a logical worldview based on arguments—sometimes get confused and sometimes do not see where the emotions are coming from and where the more reasoned arguments are coming from.
Torn-laughing emoji
The following quote shows that Rav Michael also understood the matter this way: “Should every achievement attained by Sabbath desecrators, or even actually through Sabbath desecration, receive the same reservation?”
Although if we are very precise, it seems that this too is not what Rav Ofran meant. He complains that the Sabbath desecration was done in his name and for his honor, and speaks about “the official national team of the State of Israel.” So it seems that unlike an ordinary achievement attained through Sabbath desecration, about which Rav Ofran would not have bothered to write, his problem is with the secularization of the state’s official public sphere. He sees the official national team as something that represents him, and therefore refuses to rejoice in the Sabbath desecration done “in his honor.” In addition, I also did not see in his words any disdain for the sporting achievement itself.
By the way, regarding the Rambam’s wonderful point,
what is the explanation for his permitting benefit from prohibitions of benefit that took effect upon prohibitions of eating, such that it is not considered an added prohibition?
After all, it is explicit in the Gemara that even if one prohibition does not take effect upon another, nevertheless he is buried among the utterly wicked. This implies that there is still a transgression in the second prohibition, and if so, for that reason it should be forbidden to derive benefit.
Elegant and amusing, and I too connect with what is written here; I wrote somewhat similar things in the comments on Rav Ofran’s post. One could add that as a state we benefit quite a bit from that very non-observance of the Sabbath (I assume a considerable share of the successful startups did not refrain from writing code on the Sabbath), and that in general the Israeli Sabbath has split off somewhat from the Jewish Sabbath, and it is hard to come with complaints against the non-religious Israeli for not relating to the Sabbath as a halakhic Sabbath. And of all events in the world, sports are in the category of Bialik’s open curtain. And usually it is not fair to be angry דווקא at the open curtain.
I do not share the disdain for the game. It requires ability, technique, great investment in training, thought, and team cooperation. So achievements there are certainly worthy of appreciation. I wrote that fanatical fandom seems childish and primitive to me.
Watching sports is a hobby, not a value. The same goes for reading statistics and analyses.
I also did not see any disdain in his words. I suspected that his words are based, consciously or not, on his grandfather’s disdain.
That does not mean there is a transgression, but rather that there is disgrace in it (criminal thought and intent). Like one who intended to eat pork and ended up with lamb, where in the plain sense there is no transgression at all (unlike the Brisker Rav in the stencil on Nazir), and yet he still requires atonement.
As Dov Elbaum said in a lecture he gave last week at Bar-Ilan, what mass Sabbath desecration is caused by the weekend study retreats organized and attended by rabbis at hotels?
Is the rabbi troubled by the state’s secular identity? In the first part of his remarks he expresses a personal reservation. In the second part, as I understand it, he criticizes the “light” religious people who watched the game on the Sabbath. There is nothing novel here; there is nothing more Leibowitzian than this (guarding halakhah). Only in the third part is there a slight breeze in the direction of a more Jewish Israeli identity.
And regarding the “excessive self-righteousness”: it seems to me that the dominant part of his remarks is his second criticism (toward Sabbath desecration in “light” religious circles). The rest sounds like wrapping and context.
https://www.facebook.com/646183667/posts/pfbid02d22MmKVzaYRXym95AH1FLMBofuFofjZApSrXmGepnA4SsgXNUXmz8cejgTaWb6YZl/?mibextid=Nif5oz
A fine summary and sensible words.
What about watching from the standpoint of benefiting from Sabbath desecration according to halakhah? Is there a difference between an Israeli channel (Sabbath desecration by the camera crew, etc.) and a foreign channel (where there is certainly room to discuss what prohibitions, if any, are committed by the players themselves), and what about a rebroadcast? Is the rule of bikhdei she-ya'asu relevant here, or is it not relevant in something that cannot be done afterward? (I mean that bikhdei she-ya'asu plainly means that, from my perspective, the labor could have been performed after the Sabbath, which seemingly does not apply to recording a game.) Thanks.
The fixed ritual: how to become a favorite?
Let’s write, mock, troll, nitpick, and cling to trifles of trifles.
Let’s drone on, be long-winded, and juggle unnecessarily with the words of leading rabbis and social-media personalities.
Maybe he’ll take notice, maybe he’ll have mercy, and we too will bask in the spotlight and the likes,
and not sit alone in the dark over a dark beer in Lod,
by the light of the fireworks gunfire of the neighboring cousins.
What, after all, did Rav Ofran say? That he protests the fact that his God-fearing friends
indirectly enjoy Sabbath desecration, even when done under complete halakhic allowance by the law of children taken captive.
You are right that every central component of our revival here was accomplished through mass Sabbath desecration,
but this is a necessary matter, and it is not far-fetched to say that it overrides the Sabbath, unlike leisure and sports.
Rav Ofran also knows that the Israeli Sabbath has its own dynamics, and there is no point in issuing self-righteous declarations.
Our best players, handsome with forelocks and tattoos, fill their bellies with grandmother’s Sabbath cholent and hraimeh,
and then hurry off to the field; afterward they wonder why the result is heartburn, and at the World Cup we get knocked out by Nicaragua’s fourth division.
The main thrust of Ofran’s words is directed inward, to his friends who observe Torah and mitzvot and keep the Sabbath,
for whom the sanctity of the Sabbath is important, and yet they still fill up with satisfaction from Sabbath desecration.
Let them rejoice discreetly, or at least first say, “Nothing about this was spoken on the Sabbath”… but rather,
like that platoon of Jews
there in the killing fields of the First World War,
when they were forced to eat non-kosher soup, the commander hissed at them:
Eat your fill, but at least don’t lick the plate.
Don’t get me wrong—I like your lighter columns, in which you give free rein to the keyboard,
and especially the wealth of anecdotes and sweets you’ve been scattering here lately.
Apparently you really have grown old (just don’t pinch people’s cheeks today—it’s passé).
May they still bear fruit in old age, amen.
As for ratings and the popularity index—do not despair… as He saved rams in Lod, so may He save us now.
I read the report that I linked to, not his original words. There, there was no reference to watching on the Sabbath, and in truth there is also no need to watch on the Sabbath. One can watch it on Saturday night as well.
Indeed, a nice article.
We have not found a prohibition after the fact beyond the time it would take to do it even in such a case. In my opinion there is no prohibition on watching after the Sabbath. On the Sabbath itself (with a Shabbat timer) there is room to discuss it, because the television system is operating for you, and here these are Jews. And even with gentiles, when they do it for you, there is room to discuss it (although it is not only for you, still).
If Rav Ofran’s criticism is correct in your eyes—
why did you go on at length about other topics?
The situation is different here. In Israel the broadcast was on Saturday night; in Argentina, on the Sabbath.
It’s simply a bummer that the whole world of sports stands in opposition to the world of halakhah, and seemingly there is no way to reconcile the contradiction. Competitions take place on the Sabbath because it’s a day off, and all the more so international ones, and it’s impossible to take Israelis into account. Even as a parent of a child with athletic ability, the choice to exclude him from the world of sports is unpleasant. Precisely as a sports fan, I feel this is a very problematic abyss, from which it may be better to disconnect as early as possible so as not to create yet another major challenge for religious people that cannot be bridged (see that even Beitar Jerusalem has already gone back to playing on the Sabbath).
And I, the little one, am just waiting for the rabbi’s column on the NBA Finals… we haven’t even half satisfied our craving with the occasional limp mentions of LeBron James here and there.