Who cares?
There is a lot of criticism floating around about Jews and communities getting together to watch the Super Bowl. There is a lot of criticism out there, some of it implied and some of it explicit of it not being a Jewish thing, not appropriate etc.
Surely the discussion itself is always appropriate, and maybe some people do get too involved, but overall I think too much of a deal is being made of it.
For 48 years Jews have been watching the Super Bowl, and football for longer. For decades more, Jews have enjoyed baseball, add to that basketball, other sports, other activities... Personally I do not know one person who left religion because he watched a football game... People enjoy it, its a hobby, something to be distracted with. Not everyone is going to spend every free moment learning Torah. It is nothing new, and I think it is best to be left alone rather than attacked. Attacking people for following sports will be a futile effort, and will most likely make people think you are detached from reality, disconnected, unrealistic, and they will ignore what you have to say on more important issues. Let people enjoy their harmless extracurricular activities.
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Assimilation is definitely a silent killer of the American Jewish population. Professional sports is a part of pop culture which is entertainment. Filling one's world with western entertainment means less room for Hashem. Less room for Hashem means less room for being Jewish.
ReplyDeleteI think Hashem for the day I couldn't buy a new TV. We had just got married, and scored a great price on an internet auction, but my student credit card did not have a large enough credit limit even though we had the money in the bank. I gave up fighting the bank to extend the credit limit. No TV -> no tv shows (before broadband internet) -> lose interest in TV and professional sports -> not watching commercials -> don't know what's 'on' -> don't know what I 'need to buy' -> don't know what other tv shows are on -> don't know what movies are out or coming out -> stop going out to movies -> not know who the new stars are -> reading and studying more -> kids also grow up without much awareness of brands, celebrities, consumer products -> kids read more, more Jewish.