The Song of the Muscles Chapter XNUMX - And where are the Jews?

Several factors came together and led to some momentum in the field of physical culture among the Jews of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Several factors came together and led to some momentum in the field of physical culture among the Jews of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance as follows:

First - the halachic literature of the Jewish community was based on the ancient halachic rulings of the Second Temple, the Mishnah and the Talmud, in which, as mentioned, there are positive testimonies about physical activity, such as - the running of the priests in the temple, the physical games that the president of the Sanhedrin performed in front of a crowded public at events The joy of Beit HaShuava, leveraging walking as a popular sport on Shabbat and more.

Second - Jews became famous as translators (Western to European languages ​​and vice versa) and many classical books, Greek, Hellenistic and Roman, passed under their hands, whose approach to physical activity was for nothing. Such an exposure did not pass indifferently among those translators, who transferred, so it seems, even a little of it to the Jewish street.

Thirdly - Jewish doctors sought to instill the positive consciousness towards health and hygiene associated with physical activity, and perhaps the greatest of them all was Rambam, about whom we will elaborate later.

Fourth - Jews who served as warriors, and even as knights in the service of the church, and there were quite a few of them, contributed to deepening the consciousness regarding the use of weapons, especially in the field of fencing.

Fifth - Jews sought to find a ray of light in the medieval world, which did not always show its favor to them, to say the least. An expression of this is a world from holding holiday ceremonies and family and community events where, among other things, physical amusements came to light.

Sixth - the dimensions of the influence of the Christian European environment, which contributed, within its scope, to the instillation of physical culture among the Jewish communities within which they lived, cannot be ruled out. An appropriate echo of this emerges from the appearance of sports in the Jewish community, such as were not known in the ancient era such as a knightly tournament as a social sports pastime.

Seventh - interesting is the attitude of the rabbis, the spiritual leaders and even the social leaders of the community towards the culture of the body, who in quite a few cases set aside a considerable series of permits and concessions of various kinds in favor of the occupation of Jews in one or another sport? Their permits will cleanse their lives against the background of the following motives, and perhaps they were inclined to define them, somewhat cynically, as a fig leaf in favor of their reconciliation and assimilation into the community as follows:

A - For the sake of "Shabbat pleasure" and "Yom Tov happiness" they allowed the "boys" (as the original language says) to run, jump, walk, wrestle and play ball.

B - To "save souls" they encouraged fencing and the art of horse riding.

C - For the "groom's happiness" Jewish tournaments were allowed in the chivalric style and even, in the Renaissance era, mixed dances of men and women together.

D - For "amusement and age" the Jews were allowed to have fun, ball games, wrestling and dancing.

E - For the sake of the health of the body, the rabbis permitted a variety of branches and activities, especially personal gymnastics.

These concessions and concessions, which came from the school of the giants of the generation, served as an important encouragement to the Jews' engagement in the subject under discussion, and beyond the factors mentioned above, they had in front of their eyes the well-known rule that decrees should not be passed on the public unless the majority of them could comply with them. In other words, the community leaders, political, social and ideological-spiritual, could not ignore the expansion of the physical phenomenon among the Jews, and were probably afraid of losing the flock of their shepherd if they persisted in the decrees and difficulties, and therefore asked on the one hand (from understanding and positive awareness) and produced on the other hand (considering a bone stuck in their throat) Untie the creeper in Ken Tamim.

At the center of our lectures we will of course place the great work of Maimonides and the extent of his contribution to the instillation of physical culture among the people of Israel and to its spread.