Jul 2, 2008
observations from the pool
I took my boys swimming last night. I am not much of a swimmer. I prefer sports like baseball, basketball, football and the like. I pretty much was ready to go home after about 15 minutes of swimming. But, alas, I had brought my kids to have a good time, so I was stuck there for a while.
Here are a few observations from the pool:
- The first half hour of swimming was pretty good, but then it got pretty crowded (though not nearly as crowded as in the picture above).
- about 20% of the people in the pool (kids and adults) stay in the shallow end. About 85% of the people in the rest of the pool stay along the wall and hardly move away from it. Not too many people venture out for a swim in the middle of the pool.
- There were a couple of 15 year old kids (estimated) who pulled out a huka/nargilla and were sitting in a corner taking their puffs, after which they sat there smoking cigarettes. One kid looked frum (the peyos gave it away), the other 2 kids had nothing distinctly frum about them so I do not know if they were or were not.
- A lot of kids get excited about the kiosk on premises. I even venture to guess that that is part of the draw. They get to buy a snack in the kiosk! A lot of kids were sitting on the side munching on snacks (chips, bisli, artiks, etc.)
- Almost all the kids munching on snacks were not wearing yarmulkas at the time despite almost all of them being frum kids. When I saw my kids eating their snacks, I reminded them to put on a kipa. I wonder why kids do not automatically get their kipa to go eat...
- My eyes still burn a bit from the amount of chlorine there was in the water. I guess it is better than the alternative of swimming in the kids' urine and body fluids.
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I highly doubt it is the chlorine that is still burning your eyes...most likely you strained them looking at all the other kids!
ReplyDeleteWhat pool did you go to? Was it outdoors and seperate? -etana
ReplyDeletekiryat chinch in bet shemesh. It is outdoors (though semi-covered) and seperate (I do not know if it is only separate or if they have other hours where it is mixed, but I went separate)
ReplyDeleteMust one wear a kipa to eat? I thought it was only necessary for making the bracha.
ReplyDeletemust one wear a kipa at all? it is only "minhag chassidus" after all.
ReplyDeleteNowadays we pretty much wear a kipa for everything unless the kipa will get ruined (such as while swimming) or other dire situations (in some business locations in chu"l people might forgo the yarmulka), so I think cherdi children (most of these were) should be expected to wear it while eating.
Any anyways, I doubt they put the kipa on to make the bracha and then took it off to eat. So either they made no bracha, or they made the bracha with no kipa on.
Actually, it should probably be that you went swimming with kids' urine AND chlorine.
ReplyDeleteisn't that what the chlorine is for? to clean out/kill the germs (i,e, urine)?
ReplyDeleteare your kids chareidi children?
ReplyDeletedo you have the contact info for the pool? or do you know the women's hours?-etana
ReplyDeletethey run ads in the local ad papers. I will look for their ad and post back.. unless someone else knows offhand....
ReplyDeleteSo what you're really saying is that instead of going to the pool, what people actually want is to hang around a nice area,(such as a park) smoking nargillah and eating snacks. Maybe a small wading pool area would be nice to cool down in, but no-one really wants to swim.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it would be cheaper and more hygienic for someone to open such a park and we could all go there instead (and the guys would keep their kippot on)!
could be
ReplyDeleteRafi, I'm very interested in the origins of the minhag to wear a kippah, as it is not stated in the mikrah (as far as I'm aware), and I don't think it's even implied (but I could be majorly wrong on that one) as is covering hair for a woman -i.e., the uncovering of the suspected sotah's hair.
ReplyDeleteYou say it's "minhag chassidut," but which sect: Lubavitch, Bobover, Breslov, Satmer, Hornesteipler, etc.? When was it developed? Is there any source in the Shulchan Aruch or Mishna for this minhag?
I gotta know...I suppose I could "Google it," eh? -But why not ask a Rav? (Sounds as if my husband was right; he said that is was not a law, but a minhag. But you know us Jews: מנהג ישראל כדין הוא -always changing the face of halacha. . .