Dear VIN,
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I think it is amazing that yeshivas and shuls transform the Super Bowl into a huge Kiddush Hashem.
My son’s yeshiva holds a “super seder” event, where boys of all ages learn for two hours, followed by a gourmet buffet dinner. Some yeshivas pay boys money to learn. I think this is an amazing way to turn something which is at best a waste of time and possibly spiritually harmful, into a night of Torah and growth.
Some learning programs hold online shiurim during halftime. I realize this is a little more dicey, because it is sort of accepting the fact that people will watch the game and asking them to squeeze Torah into its schedule, however once again, they are taking an imperfect reality and making the most of it.
(Disclaimer: I’m referring to boys who do not have regular seder during the game. Obviously if there is a set yeshiva seder on Sunday night, it is a serious shaila of bittul Torah and beyond the scope of my letter.)
Let’s face it. Watching the Super Bowl is part of American culture and a huge temptation for kids…and adults. It’s the elephant in the room.
We have two options. We can ignore it and pretend that it does not exist. Or we can confront reality, and try to turn it into a Kiddush Hashem. I respect both approaches, however I suspect that many boys gain chizuk from a yeshiva that says “Hey guys, we know this is very tempting. We are going to tempt you to learn Torah with something even more enticing.”
I recently heard a session from Rav Reuvain Feinstein shlit”a addressing mechanchim. He was asked about bribes like money and prizes to encourage kids to learn, and he said “Money talks.” He was in favor of using rewards to entice kids to learn Torah. There are so many obstacles and temptations these days, it seems that as long as kids are learning, we should be grateful, whatever reward necessary.
Not to mention, the Super Bowl is not just neutral. The alternative to “super seder” is not merely Bitul Torah. Watching the game comes with huge risks and dangers.
For one thing, there are many inappropriate images and things that can pop up on the screen at any time.
In addition, the NFL culture totally contradicts Torah values. It is a violent sport, with two “Tzelemei Elokim” beating each other up. In addition, many players are thugs who kneel for the national anthem and have zero respect for the United States. They stand for woke and immoral values, and they are glorified by the media.
Anything that we can do to tear our children (and adults) away from the pull of the NFL seems like a wonderful cause, and something that we should support.
Kol Hakavod to all yeshivas, shuls, and learning programs that are competing with the Super Bowl, and turning a night of spiritual depravity into a Kiddush Hashem.
– An American guy who likes sports but knows it’s bad
first there is at least 60% of the frum world for whom the super bowl is not really on the radar like my kids who heard something about it but it ends there.
then there is a big segment of fine frum families who watch it and turn off by the half time show and get over it win or lose & to them its fair to say its pretty harmless.
then there is a small percent who are somewhere in the middle… dont make a big deal dont give it free publicity
a friend of mine told his kids they could watch the highlights when its on you tube tom eve
Everyone who normally follows sports should sit down with their families and enjoy the super bowl with some nice kosher food. Obviously do not let them watch the half time show and use this time to bond with their kids!
if you don’t want your kids involved in following sports then work that out with your kids months before but to let them follow sports the whole year and now at the biggest game of the year deprive them is a huge mistake.
So I’m going to guess a few things here, number one I’m going to guess that perhaps the letter writer is not a sports fan. I could also guess that the letter writer is a former sports fan who now likes to preach about being anti-Sports instead of remembering what he was once like. Not sure which way it goes.
As a sports fan but definitely not as crazy as I once was because I’ve gotten older, I’m a lot more involved in daf yomi BH then I had been, and basically the way most sports players acted during the China virus lockdown I’ve pretty much washed my hands from it, I certainly could understand why people want to watch this game. To me, it’s almost no different than anyone wanting to watch game 7 of a World series or even better, game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals. This is it, it’s for all the marbles .
Add into that the commercials which add even more to the event. For years, I would be anxiously awaiting the Anheuser-Busch commercials doing the super bowl.
Bottom line is, it’s not the worst thing in the world especially if you watch it with normal people. If you watch it with a bunch of grubeh shkutzim I could see an issue.
I would suggest that the writer chills out a little bit. If this is the worst thing your kid does, you should look up to HKBH and thank him everyday.
We Should Do Everything Possible to Get People to Learn During the Super Bowl
Truth be said:
We Should Do Everything Possible to Get People to Learn All the time. Super Bowl or not.
In other words, going to Six Flags, Amusement parks, American Dream, Orlando, most chol hamoed trips etc are all Bitul torah AND big time tumeh just as bad as the Superbowl if not worse.
In the halachic language:
אינו מתעסק בישובו של עולם.
Or “uncontructive waste of time”.
I understand that you bring this up today because it’s SB day with all its trimmings.
But you should keep raising this issue ALL THE TIME. As on Chol Hamoed, summer, winter break (what’s that ? When did that meshigas start).
well there is UVOS v’BUNIM in every Bhm”d in Brooklyn which is way more than all of Super Bowl – so B”H Yidden learn every Motzei Shabbos without Super Bowl
I should add that I have some friends who seem to dabble in betting and a family member on my wife’s side who wagers on every game available. There will be a cheshbon for this one day. Bankruptcies, broken marriages. I know two people who did time for fraud and the fraud was to cover gambling losses.
To me, this seems more dangerous than some perutzas on a superbowl commercial. Sports betting looks like fun but I don’t trust myself one bit not to do it badly and not to become addicted, and I’m not even that big a fan anymore.
Let’s try this. You do you and I’ll do me
What is wrong with us? We need the Gedoilim to tell us that learning is more important than watching the Super Bowl. Do we need prompts about bittul Torah? How is this even a shailah? Of course posting on VIN is not bittul zman. There has to be somewhere to give the less frum mussar.
Blah blah blah blah!!! There’s nothing wrong with watching the Super Bowl cut the crap ! Agreeing on the performance half time show which is not appropriate!
Stop making it like someone did a crime if they watched the Super Bowl
There is no single approach for every house or community. Just don’t get overly invested in the game, don’t bet, certainly don’t bet money you can’t afford, and use your seichel when it comes to commercials. I would imagine everyone can do without the half-time show. With all of the recent petirahs, I have more than enough mishnayos to learn for shloshims during that time.
I have never been very interested in sports, not a huge masmid either but never watched the Superbowl. I would either have my regular seder or attend a “super seder” event. This year my son was all excited for it and asked me if he could watch it, so we did. This was the first time I watched the Super Bowl. I put on the Jewish live stream half time Torah event – but my son was not interested in it & left the room. (It was not very entertaining for kids.) The ads during the show were so off putting – and often inappropriate. During the game I almost fell asleep. This is just another thing that has become an American national event, mostly due to the commercialization & media advertising. I am sure that most people who watch it have not watched or followed the teams or previous games. Instead of promoting alternate events for the Superbowl, we should think of how to stop the commercialization and advertising influencing our Jewish culture. If you are interested in sports & will watch it, ok thats your choice. Just because there is a game on that you are going to watch, why does it need to become a kosher fresserai.
In our yeshiva the superbowl is strictly banned and anyone caught watching it is thrown out. What you’ll see bochrim doing during that time is legal vaping or legal marjuiana, or drinking alcohol or watching things on their phones. This method is so much better as the bochrim feel free, not so strict and no one is watching grown men in uniforms run around silly as if what they’re doing matters in the world’s history
Tifasta M’ruba Loy Tifasta. I’m a little older then a lot of you fellas, when I was in yeshiva the Rosh yeshiva let us watch the super bowl but had an older bucher monitor the TV for commercials and halftime show.
Go birds!
R’ Feinstein said it best. How do you get JEWISH Kids to do things they wouldn’t naturally want to do? MONEY! of course. We literally have become a stereotype of ourselves.
“many players are thugs who kneel for the national anthem and have zero respect for the United States”
It is important to to recall why they kneel: it’s not as simple as they are “thugs.”
Even lakewood ir hakodesh there are ads for this tuma, I hold any establishment with ads for this should lose their hechsher. It is not the way of the gedolim or in the beautiful alter heim