The Jewish people were by no means distant from physical activity, both for reasons of the influence of a dominant powerful society and for intrinsic-immanent considerations. The origins of this are continuous, and in a relatively high way, in sporting events and physical-sporting thoughts, and up to such a learning that confirms the principle of Safra-Wasifa
Below will be presented four cases that embody in them sporting activities involving bodily harm, along with the reference of the Halacha to this case. Water games Who among us has not entertained his children and had fun with his grandchildren in water games in the pool or in the sea. Throwing, jumping, flipping and other amusements were and are an integral part of these amusement games. We find examples of them in the ancient period, and sometimes very ancient, and we even witness diverse and mixed references by ancient writers, Greeks and Romans, who do not let go of this phenomenon.
The ancient Jewish society was not "free" from this issue, and in general from very interesting gymnastic and agonistic (sporting) discoveries. This resulted from both internal immanent needs and well-known evolutionary processes, in terms of "sport as a substitute for war", "sport as a promoter of fighting skills" and "sport that preserves fighting traditions". Likewise, Judah, as one that was given centuries under Greek-Hellenistic rule on the one hand and Roman rule on the other, could not adhere to the distorted idea of "they are a people alone shall dwell and the Gentiles shall not be considered". The people did not live alone and the Gentiles were very considerate.
His consideration of the "Gentiles" is reflected in various subjects: on the economic and social level, in the political and even cultural dimensions. By the phrase "take into account" I refer not only to one or other constraints, but "simply" to the degree of social-cultural-behavioral exposure to "foreign" characteristics, and in our case - a very special, recreational physical activity as mentioned. "But what?", "Alia and a spike in it": physical-sports activities represent, among other things, the objective, physical infrastructure of a certain region, such as athletic activity will be characterized in plain areas, certain martial arts will be characterized in mountainous areas and swimming, "what to do" , reflects societies saturated with bodies of water, mainly rivers and streams. Thus we find vigorous swimming activities in ancient Greece and Rome, and certainly in Egypt. But what about swimming and water sports in ancient Jewish society, and more than that: Rabbi Akiva expresses himself on one of the occasions in the literature of Sages, that one of the duties of a father to his son, apart from Torah and Gemara, is also... swimming. This teaching is based on the Greek and Roman influence that has influenced Jewish society for hundreds of years. Moreover, how will the Jews swim, or play in the water, in the near absence of water sources? The answer lies in the phenomenon of swimming pools, which became popular in the Roman period and found their way into Jewish society through the enterprises and ventures of King Herod (Herod) to such an extent, and for this we have interesting archaeological evidence, that there was hardly a self-respecting city of Polis without adequate swimming facilities. These, of course, were divided between the public pools ("dimosiat" in the language of the Sages) and the private, exclusive ones ("privetaot" in the words of the Sages).
The public awareness of the subject of swimming therefore increased during the Hellenistic and later Roman rule, and we find proof of this in the literature of the sages, which is no better and more appropriate than presenting the daily life of the Jews in the period in question. In the Midrash Beresheet Rabbah (No, 732) the following text appears: "A parable of a man who kept (or "broke") his grain of river oats, and also sprang his son with him." The text in question discusses dangerous amusements performed at the water fountain, here by chance in the river. Dangerous amusements such as jumping, jumping, landings, inversions (somersaults) and especially in the "Oat" area, that is, a water vortex. Worse still was the perpetration of the dangerous pastime by children with the encouragement of their parents. The expression "Agino" is taken from the Greek "Agon", which means a sporting competition, and especially one that combines physical efforts, to teach us that it is not about social entertainment, obviously. This phenomenon, whether performed in the swimming pool or in any water reservoir, was met with great disapproval by the Greek, Hellenistic and Roman writers, and especially the sports doctors among them. Elsewhere sages warn against dangerous entanglement in these amusements, and in the Midrash HaGadol Levishit (p. XNUMX) it is required of the expression "Faz like water" as follows: "It looks like a fizz who jumps into the water and breaks their feet."
Body massages An architectural and social contribution that the Roman culture showered on the areas under its control, including the provinces, were the bathhouses, an integral part of which was physical activity such as ball games and body massage, which is called in the language of the Sages "pin" (the letter kf is loose and not stressed). Sages encouraged this activity, also due to the fact that it became a "state scourge", and therefore the leadership preferred to "swim with the current", since there is no guzerin on the public if it cannot comply with the decree. From this, the sages came up with a series of massage activity promoters, even on Shabbat, and their catchphrase: "Sikka on Shabbat is a pleasure", or "the oil - its way to lubrication". However, along with encouragement and exhortation, the Sage explained quite a few dangers arising from the massage (massage), when even this intervention was intended to control the "situation". These warned again and again against leaving the body of the massager, the exerciser, in the excessively strong hands of the usher, and certainly the words are directed towards unqualified ushers, and quite a few cases of physical damage such as broken bones and sprained joints have been known, against which the sages warned and warned. The Sage was particularly disturbed by the fact that people agreed to massage their limbs, such as their backs, with a round, oiled marble stone, which was very dangerous. Jewish tournament Let's jump to another matter and to another period - to the Middle Ages. In this era, mainly in Central Europe and the West, the Jews were exposed to local customs, including sporting ones. One of them was the "tournament". The "tournament" was a system of quasi-sporting confrontation between the knights. Sometimes it is called "Bohor(XNUMX)" and sometimes "Mela" (two virtues and in Milra'). The colorful attraction of the "tournament" was the duel between two armed knights, racing towards each other, aiming their long bayonets (sometimes more than two meters long, while their bodies were somewhat dwarfed) and trying to knock the opponent off his horse. This "sporting" competition was absorbed in medieval cities, with most of the deadly elements removed from it. And the Jews, as an inseparable part of European society, sometimes adopted this competitive activity, no less and no more in engagement and marriage ceremonies, when the groom would face his young friends in a kind of "tournament" in the midst of the wedding. In this way, the new "Maturzan" bridegroom wanted to demonstrate his fine qualities in front of the chosen one of his heart. This phenomenon, as strange as it may seem, is perpetuated in the Sho'at literature, or rather, the question-and-answer literature of the great arbitrators in the Middle Ages, such as the Rash, the Rashba, and more. To teach about the explosiveness of the phenomenon we will bring the fact that some sent questions to the great arbitrators about the dangers involved in the "wedding tournament". We might have expected that the sages of the generation would rule out any and all of these events, but no. These informed Kabal Am and Olam that as long as the groom does not withdraw from the invitation to a "duel" and that this event is common and accepted ("because that's how they used to..." according to the language of the Shoat), there is no obstacle to holding competitions of this kind and at the same time there is no basis for claiming damages from the offending opponent, because everything is done in a social-sporting framework. It should be noted that horse-riding competitions were also accepted among the affluent population in relation to family joyous events. The fighting and its damage is quite similar to the previous event, we come across in the Shoat literature a question addressed to the Rabbi (Rabbi Asher ben Yehiel of France, 1327-1250), one of the greatest judges of his generation, about two Jews who fought with each other and during the confrontation one of them blinded the eye of his opponent The burning question concerned the amount of compensation, and this detour concerned the actual struggle. The President, after thoroughly understanding the details and the event, issued the ruling exempting the captain from paying damages to the victim. The Rash justified this with the phrase "adeta", meaning - in the opinion of both. If, therefore, it is a sporting confrontation and not a wild street fight ("getting beaten up"), when it was agreed upon by both and according to rules known in advance, there is no reason in the world, in the opinion of the President, to oblige the harmer to pay damages.
