The muscles song XNUMX: a clean folk song

Rabbi Gamaliel allowed Jews in his time to bathe in the Roman bathhouse in Acre dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite, even on Shabbat

A very interesting event is unfolded before us from the year of idolatry in this language: "Proclus ben Philosophus asked Rabbi Gamaliel (the president) in Acre, who was bathing in Aphrodite's bath (and wondered only for the purpose of continuing the discussion in the Sanhedrin)... (And Rabbi Gamaliel answered him): They do not say that we will bathe Aphrodite Ornamental, rather they say we made Aphrodite ornamental for the bath" (III XNUMX).

Rabbi Gamliel the President (116-98 CE) would move from place to place in order to rule, among other things, in areas that seem problematic. For the problem, is it appropriate to bathe in the Roman bathhouse in Acre (the city of Polis and named Ptolemais) dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite, and even on Shabbat, the president rules that it is allowed, and the excuse is sophisticated: not the goddess is a decisive weight, but the bathhouse, and therefore Jews are allowed to use the bathhouse.

On the other hand, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi preferred to go from Lod to Beit Govrin "begin Mischai" (Yerushalmi XNUMXth chapter XNUMX, XNUMX), when the expression "Mischai" may refer to swimming or a body pin, and in any case it is about deepening consciousness towards physical activity in Jewish society.

A few decades later, the Jerusalem Talmud states as follows: "Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish was (stayed) in Buzrah (a large city of polis northeast of the Galilee). Hamton Mazalpin (see Jews who bathe in water) Lahda (bath of) Aphrodite. Lun said (to them): Lay a prisoner (isn't it forbidden)? I asked (came and asked) Rabbi Yochanan, Rabbi Yochanan said to him in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzedek: Nothing of many is forbidden!" (Shiviat chapter XNUMX p. XNUMX).

These two sources interpret different permissions for the Jewish public, even on problematic and heavy issues such as foreign worship, regarding which the Sages said: "It shall be killed and not transgressed!", and this is firstly because the majority of the public did so, and secondly - in order to continue to encourage Jewish settlement in all kinds of places and on the other hand reduce the chances of them leaving.

The subject of hygiene occupied an honorable place in both Greek and Hellenistic and Roman culture, and was clearly linked to physical activity. The importance of hygiene and aesthetics was assimilated into Jewish society as a result of hundreds of years of Greek and Roman occupation, and therefore we will not be surprised to find in Sage literature many references dealing with the subject, as we will mention immediately below.

One of the main questions that plagued Nablus and the Arabs in my research about the Jewish body culture in the ancient period, was summed up in the following sentence: why does the term "gymnasium" not appear in the Tanahite, Talmudic and Midrashic literature, given its great importance in Greek and Hellenistic culture? And especially against the background of the fact that remains of gymnasiums from the Roman period were uncovered in Israel.

The Romans showed a rather chilly attitude to the foundations of Greek and Hellenistic culture to the gymnasium facility and to the gymnastic competitions, which was based on the resistance to naked torture.

But the Romans found it difficult, literally, to swim against the current, and especially against the background of the fact that they gradually adopted a more and more conciliatory attitude against the Hellenistic and Hellenistic culture, and we recall how Herod was among those who contributed a lot to finding that Modus and Vivendi, that fragile bridge between the two aforementioned cultures , and therefore they were ready to contrast the Greek gymnasium with the Roman bathhouse, when the issue of the Roman aversion to nudity was logically dissolved anyway.
The Roman bath house, which King Herod especially worked on, and his architectural works in the Herodion or Masada, for example, explicitly testified to this, included a cloakroom, a pool of lukewarm water, hot and cold water rooms and special massage corners, reflecting, as it were, the above image. Beyond that, open swimming pools were also found (as in Jericho), a room for ball games, as well as rooms for storing oil for the needs of the body pin. There were cases when Roman baths were added to existing gymnasiums to form one complex architectural ensemble.

My basic premise, at the level of conjecture of course, is that the connection between a gymnasium and a bathhouse is folded into the term "demos" or "demos" (a kind of public swimming pool), such as the ruling: "... there is no bonin with them (with the non-Jewish residents of the polis) in Silki, Gerdom and Iztadia (a luder arena, or some athletic facility) and a stage (for pagan worship), but they build demosias and a bath house with them..." (from the year of Avodah Zerah 1:XNUMX); Or: "... and tomorrow I will open for you demosias and baths..." (Vikra Rabbah XNUMX:XNUMX).
Sometimes this term appears alone, unrelated to baths. However, even so, an interesting picture emerges in relation to the case under discussion. In the Talmud, in the treatise Avot Darbi Natan, a polemic between sages is presented. One of them finished saying in his soul and said: "I will go to Damsit, a beautiful place and beautiful and beautiful water. And they (the sages) said: Let's go to Livna, to a place where many scholars love the Torah." The phrase "beautiful and beautiful water" is so close to the pictorial description of the classical Greek gymnasium. And let's also mention the phrase "Dimosin Datbaria" that is repeated many times in the literature of the Sages.
The Babylonian Talmud explains the famous mishna in the Shabbat tract, the one that deals with the athletic nature of the gymnasium trainees, and emphasizes, among other things: "... but they don't exercise. Said Rabbi Haya bar Abba (a man from Tiberias), said Rabbi Yochanan (also a Tiberian) - it is forbidden to stand on the bottom of Diomast, because (the lake) labors and heals (on Shabbat of course). Rav Yehuda said, Rav said: All the days of Diomasta are twenty-one days..." (Shabbat XNUMX).

Well, first of all - a visit to Diomast, in my opinion a gymnasium in the Roman style, with the bathhouse in the center, was not only visual but practical; Second - we never learn about them. To say - the prohibitions sought to fence off an existing and prevalent practice; Third - Tiberias was also a Jewish sports center, where hippodromes, dromes, hot baths and healing baths were found; Fourth - the healing in "Diomast" resulted from the very physical activity - swimming, and even from the massage that the gymnasts would receive (as we will see later on); The fifth of the allowed "days of the Diomast" while subtracting the Sabbaths and Saturday evenings did add up to about twenty-one days, which is also the summation of the days in the Gymnacion according to Rome.

So what's the deal with "Diomast", "Demsit", "Dimosiat" and more of that kind and Gymnacion?
Well, first of all - the Roman bathhouse contained within it, or near it, buildings that characterized the classical gymnasium, and the degree of Roman influence on Jewish society is no longer a matter worthy of in-depth study and controversial approaches; Secondly - many terms in the Sage literature, mostly terms borrowed from Greek and Latin, were confused and distorted. Sometimes it is about the combination of letters such as "Lyman" and "Namal", sometimes with the addition of a letter or its deletion such as "Vespasianus" - "Vespasianus", "Trianus" - "Trogynus", "Kara" - "Cron", "Kitus" - "Kviatus" and more. One of the prominent examples is the exchange of the Greek "gimel" ("gamma") with the Hebrew "non". Thus, for example, we find in the Tospha Taharot (XNUMX:XNUMX) "Namsiyat and Bathing." The first word is close, so similar, to the term "gymnasia".

Sages recommended the pinning of the body and massaging it along the lines of "the oil - its way to the pin" as a casual, routine phrase to teach about the explosiveness of the action among Jews, or "pin which is a pleasure", and it should be noted, the pinning of the body with oil on Shabbat.
Quite a few laws discussed the matters of those who enter the baths, such as: "A person who brings a lot of oil and alotions (itchy and greasy) to the bathhouse. His whole body and he bows down his whole body and is not afraid (of harming Shabbat practices) (Tosefta Shabbat XNUMX:XNUMX), "A fat person shall not place a fat person on top of a stone table to be circled on" (Tosefta Shabbat XNUMX:XNUMX), or "He who enters the bath does not exercise and does not scratch And it does not break on the marble" (Derech Eretz Rabbah XNUMX). Before us are instructions concerning health and in general the user's body: such as the danger of straining in the hot bath and various, unprofessional actions of massage. It should be noted that scratching the body with a marble stone was part of the massage operations in the Greek gymnasium and its Roman counterpart.
This source is related to the inculcation of the consciousness of bathing and swimming, which caused the spread of a dangerous "water sport", one that included dangerous physical amusements, as in the following Midrash: "A parable for one who kept (or broke) his agino (in terms of a play on words between "agno" and "agono" - as a competitive sport in Greek) Oats of a river (in a dangerous, turbulent area) and also made his son jump with him" (Beresheet Rabbah Nu, 732). In another midrash that interprets the biblical expression "Faz as water" - "It looks like a frog that jumps into the water and breaks their legs" (Midrash HaGadol Levishit, XNUMX).

And as for swimming itself, the Babylonian Talmud, on behalf of Rabbi Akiva, gives a series of duties of the father towards his son, such as "...to meet him, to redeem him, and to learn Torah... and some say: even to wade in the water" (Kiddoshin XNUMX, p. XNUMX), when the meaning of "to wade" is to learn to swim. This teaching was very acceptable in Greece due to the proximity to the sea on the one hand and the channels of the rivers and streams on the other hand, while in Judea, which is far from the sea and is not surrounded by water, the teaching seems artificial and arbitrary. The teaching stems from both the influence of Greek culture on the one hand and the spread of swimming pools and baths on the other hand.
In the discussions of the sages, there are hints about accessories designed to make it easier for the boy to learn to swim, and in their language - "a barrel of sheitin", or even a hint about some kind of swimming style, such as: "The swimmer (the swimmer) swims on the surface of the water... and if we intend to splash on his friend... the one who does A bird in the water" (Tosefta Issanin XNUMX:XNUMX).
Is it a swimming style? Is it water fun? And maybe some kind of competition? … there is no telling. More important is the very discussion in the Sanhedrin in relation to swimming.

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