Q&A: Ball Games on the Sabbath
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Ball Games on the Sabbath
Question
Hello Rabbi, and have a good week. I wanted to ask whether it is permitted on the Sabbath to play ball games, especially volleyball on a sand court.
Thank you very much
Answer
Some halakhic decisors see this as a weekday-type activity. I wonder whether there is really anything to that. Running for enjoyment is permitted. We have no authority to make up new decrees such as “lest one come to inflate the ball.”
http://www.yeshiva.org.il/ask/44381
Discussion on Answer
Yes. All of that is completely obvious. There is not the slightest doubt according to any (sane) opinion that a ball is not muktzeh nowadays.
It seems to me that this is a dispute between Sephardi and Ashkenazi halakhic decisors. I seem to recall that the Sephardi authorities hold that a ball is muktzeh.
However, I saw in another responsum online that it says:
The Shulchan Arukh, in Orach Chayim 308:45, writes that it is forbidden to play with a ball on the Sabbath, and the Mishnah Berurah explained that the reason is that it does not have the status of a utensil because of this use of play, and is similar to a stone, which is muktzeh due to its inherent nature.
The Rema there disagreed with him and wrote that the custom is to be lenient about this, and the leading halakhic decisors wrote that nowadays, when the toy industry is large and developed and balls are manufactured for play, even according to the Shulchan Arukh a ball is not muktzeh.
From this link:
http://din.org.il/2012/06/19/%D7%98%D7%9C%D7%98%D7%95%D7%9C-%D7%9B%D7%93%D7%95%D7%A8-%D7%9C%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%9A-%D7%A7%D7%98%D7%9F/