What to do about baseball?

June 23, 2009 at 8:11 pm (Jewish, Shabbat)
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My son has fallen in love with baseball. He played on a team for the first time this fall. He loved it so much that he decided not to play soccer but to do fall baseball. Baseball sounded good because it was local and soccer required traveling up to 2 hours away.

This baseball idea is all fine but they do not give a schedule ahead of time. There is no way of knowing when the games will be. So guess when they are playing. Yep, 9 AM on Saturday.

Here is my dilema. We are not halachic Jews and we do not follow the word of our rabbi. However, we do observe Shabbat starting on Friday night through Saturday night. They way we approach Shabbat is that we do not do anything related to our work during the week. Shabbat is for rest and renewal. That means we focus on family, reading, playing outside, inviting friends over and enjoying the aspects of life we do not get to do while working during the week. The things that we consider part of the work week are the TV, computer, electronic games, and shopping.

What do we do with baseball? Is baseball OK? If baseball is what is not? Is the issue Shabbat or that my Saturday schedule is being changed?

If I am raising Jewish children with the love and passion of Judaism how do I teach the importance of Shabbat? Is it by telling them what they cannot do? I hope not. But at some point I will have to say no. What is my line? Where am I comfortable?

  • Going to a friends house – well yes if they are playing outside
  • Going to the mall - well here seems to be the line
  • Going to the movies - this seems to step over it
  • Going to a friends to play video games – no
  • Going to grandparents where they watch TV – yes, it’s their grandparents
  • Going out to a party on Friday night – is one night different then everynight?

 My children are still young so this is on the edge of theoretical, however the baseball thing is real. I do not think I have a problem with baseball but I am still wrestling with it.

What do you do? Are you a halachic Jew? Does having a rule book simplify things? Are you practicing Jew? How do you do Shabbat with your children? What would you do in this case?

cross-posted on Blog Midrash

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Tish B’Av

June 16, 2008 at 9:22 pm (Uncategorized)
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What does Tish B’Av mean to you? How do you describe it to your children?

I was talking with my 4 and 7 year old about Tish B’Av. I thought about how I should describe Tish B’Av and explained that it is the day that we mark the destruction of the first temple. My son was in Jerusalem and was able to relate with this. I continued by explaining that it also was the day of the destruction of the second temple. History even goes on to explain it was the day in 1092 that the Jews were kicked out of England. (I am not so sure of the date but it works with the next.) And in 1492 the Jews were kicked out of Spain on Tish B’Av. So on this day we think of all the bad things that happened to us as Jews.

Later at supper we were talking about schools in town and how many Jews are in the schools. My son turns and says “You know why there are so many Jews in the town? Because they have not kicked us out of here yet.”

Do you fear that you are going to be kicked out soon?

Or do you feel blessed to live where you do and you are free to be a Jew?

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Being Jewish?

June 12, 2008 at 1:16 pm (Uncategorized)
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What does being Jewish mean? Is it sufficient to be born Jewish to be Jewish? Or if I identify with Jewish people on TV and can call them out with my Jew-dar, is that good enough?

When my child goes to college and meets lots of beautiful woman from other cultures and religions how does he know he is Jewish? Does it matter? If my son marries a Christian girl and they practice both, is he Jewish? If my son has a baby girl and they raise her a 2 day a year Christian and Jew – Christmas, Hannukah, Passover and Easter, is she Jewish? What if my son really identifies with his Jewish heritage does that keep his daughter Jewish?

How do you create identity? What makes you Jewish? Should others be able to tell that you are Jewish? What in your behavior, beliefs, attire or practice makes it so others no you are Jewish? Does that matter? Can you be a private Jew?

Being Jewish requires community. Being Jewish requires practice and doing. Being Jewish requires religion. If you do not do these things then it is hard to build identity. It will be hard to pass on your heritage. It will be hard to be Jewish. It will be hard to have Jewish grandchildren.

Do you do Jewish, for you, for your children, for your grandchildren?

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