[Avodah] sports and leisure

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, April 10, 2008 8:27 pm, Michael Makovi wrote:
: So the point, he said, is that it's not mitzvah or averah; there IS a
: neutral area in between.

Ever act moves the bechirah point, so no act is really neutral, IMHO.

I don't think there are three categories: mitzvah, reshus, aveirah.
Rather "reshus" is a spectrum between mitzvah and aveirah in which
things are more or less advisable.

I already posted a quote on this from RSS in the thread "Is having a
good time assur?" One is chayav to make their tafkidim in life their
highest priorities in day-to-day decision making. The fact that all
work and no play makes Jack a burnt out boy means that breaks from
that tafkid are also part of getting the job done.

Playing ball because you need some fun in your life but you actually
use that additional sanity to be an eved Hashem is at one level of
advisability.

Watching something on TV that just skirts the edges of what's
technically assur is at another. (Presuming the equivalent rest and
break from thinking about real issues could be gotten otherwise.)

There are various qualities to choices. So, an activity could be
mutar, but less lofty.

The above seems to me to be self-evident. The whole question only
arises because of an attempt to map the problem into black-and-white
categories.

SheTir'u baTov!
-micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "Man wants to achieve greatness overnight,
micha at aishdas.org        and he wants to sleep well that night too."
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