[Avodah] sports and leisure

[Moshe Y. Gluck]

R' Micha'el Makovi:
> My major rabbi at Machon Meir (not the previous one above) said that
> one in fact does NOT have to do everything leshem shamayim, i.e. with
> the kavana of having fun to rest for study. Now, obviously, to do so
> is a lofty and meritorious thing. But, he said, to do something
> "'l'shem Wooh!" (his exact words; read with your hands in the air like
> you're going down a waterslide) is not an averah; it isn't a mitzvah,
> but it isn't an averah either.
> 
> So the point, he said, is that it's not mitzvah or averah; there IS a
> neutral area in between.
> 
> Anyone know a source?

See Even Ha'ezel, Hilchos Melachim 3:5-6. (BTW, I heard that at one point
they reprinted Even Ha'ezel and wanted to take this paragraph out, but R'
Aharon Kotler refused to allow it.)

KT,
MYG