Natan Ophir
Supervisors: Aviezer Ravitsky and Yaakov Elbaum
Phone: 072-2326630/1, 02-5636093
Address: 7 Roeh Tzon, David's Village, Jerusalem
Phone: 072-2326630/1, 02-5636093
Address: 7 Roeh Tzon, David's Village, Jerusalem
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It surveys all the literature relating to Reb Shlomo Carlebach with 120 annotated references. Note in particular section 10 which was the most challenging to write.
1. Introduction
2. Biographical Descriptions
3. Narratives & Interviews
4. Teachings In English
5. Teachings In Hebrew
6. Shlomo’s Stories & Videos
7. Music
8. The House of Love and Prayer & Neo Hasidism
9. The Carlebach Synagogue & The Moshav
10. Controversy
11. Scholarly Analysis
12. Legacy
Seven Approaches Towards Integrating Sports Within A Religious Lifestyle
The following is the published abstract. The article was printed in Hebrew in “Hagigei Hagivah” 11, 2004, pp. 81-91. This is the annual journal put out by the Givat Washington Religious College of Physical Education, the only religious Jewish college training physical education and sports teachers. It is located in Israel near Ashdod.
Should sports be integrated into a religious lifestyle? What are the obstacles and the challenges? Can one formulate and propound a philosophy of “Torah & Sports” similar to the educational ideals at the heart of modern Orthodoxy such as Torah & Avodah, Torah & Madah or Torah & Derekh Eretz?
The term “sports” is used here primarily to connote physical activities entailing elements of competitiveness, challenge and play whose intent is to further the goals of fitness and well-being.
Part I presents six aspects in the historical development of a moderately pro-sports orientation in most modern religious education systems.
1) Rabbinic responsa emphasizing the problems and dangers in integrating sports.
2) Maimonides’ emphasis on physical exercise as preventive medicine and his psychosomatic approach to the value of playfulness in ball playing.
3) The humanistic ideal of John Locke with its new educational motto, “a sound mind in a sound body” and the further development by Jean Jacques Rousseau, as humanistic ideas that led to the inclusion of physical education in European and American school curriculums.
4) The Torah Im Derekh Eretz approach as developed in 19th-20th century German Jewry in the educational ideas of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and Rabbi Dr. Joseph Carlebach which facilitated introducing gymnastics and sports as part of the curricula.
5) Max Nordau’s Judaic sports ethos in transforming the derogatory anti-semitic term Judenjungen into a laudatory depiction of Junge Juden. His influence on Herzl’s vision of a Zionistic nationalistic renewal movement.
6) The ideas of Dr. Isaac Breuer and Rav Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kuk with their emphasis on religious national renewal as an alternative to the secular Zionist approach. R. Kuk’s praise of sports and his emphasis on the value of physical exercise are collated and analyzed as part of the national teshuva in the redemptive process. This is interpreted as a formulation of the Hasidic ideal of purifying the material to serve God with devekut and elevating sparks of holiness.
Part two of this article builds an updated modernized version of integration based on the previous six directions by expanding upon the goals propounded in the Fitness Renaissance and Wellness Movement. Results of research from the philosophy of sports are set forth showing how sports contributes to personal and national wellness. Suggestions are offered to develop programs promoting life long fitness and to utilize sports for ethical, character and social development. I summarize the proposal as a symbiosis in which Jewish ethics and values influence the practical attitudes toward sports. In conclusion, it is recommended to train physical education teachers in the theory and practice of achieving a positive symbiosis of Torah and sports.
א. רוחניות וספורט: עיון היסטורי, פילוסופי ופסיכולוגי
1. הרקע ההיסטורי למפגש בין דת, רוחניות וספורט
2. "זרימה" ו"משחק בתחום" כרוחניות בספורט
3. חוויות שיא ומיסטיקה בספורט
ב. תקדימים ליחס רבני חיובי לספורט
4. יחסו החיובי של הרמב"ם להתעמלות ולמשחקי כדור
5. תורה עם דרך ארץ וספורט – הרש"ר הירש וממשיכי דרכו
6. קדושת הספורט לפי הראי"ה קוק
7. מגמות בשילוב הספורט בחיי היהודי
ג. לקראת סימביוזה חדשה של ספורט ורוחניות
8. שמונה מטרות ערכיות בספורט
9. סימביוזה של ערך
לקראת פילוסופיה דתית של הרוחניות בספורט
This article surveys a growing trend to integrate sports with spirituality.
First, I describe the historical influence of religion on sports, tracing the intertwining of the two from the Olympics in Ancient Greece and "Muscular Christianity" in the mid 19th century to the flourishing of sports in modern culture. A section is devoted to the Jewish response including Nordau's "Muscular Judaism", Hirschian synthesis of Torah with Sports and Rav Kuk's symbiotic integration. The first section concludes with a description of how sports are sometimes viewed as the "newest universal religion" with myriads of devotees discovering emotional satisfaction, self-fulfillment and personal well-being. Indeed, for some vocal fans or "true" believers, sports have assumed religious trappings with superstar athletes as idols, sportscasters as scribes, and houses of worship in expansive stadiums.
In the second section, I examine research in philosophy and psychology of sports which has focused on spiritual experiences in sports. What is the meaning of the subjective experiences of awe, wonder and well-being in sports? What are the "exceptional experiences" which athletes describe as "highs" of optimal performance? I survey the studies where sport experiences are described using language such as joy and bliss, peace and wholeness, intuition and self transcendence. These "altered states of consciousness" have been defined as "peak experiences" (Maslow) and "flow" (Csikszentmihalyi), and have even been said to contain a numinous dimension (Ravizza, Murphy and White). "Flow theory" defines "playing in the zone" as an effortless merging of action and awareness accompanied by unique sensations such as a loss of self-consciousness and autotelic (self-rewarding) experience. "Flow" can include moments of illumination and ecstasy, altered perceptions of time and space, and exceptional feats of strength and endurance.
The article concludes with practical directions for enhancing a more beneficiary symbiotic relationship between these two potentially congenial bedfellows, sports and spirituality.
תוכן עניינים
א. אקסיולוגיה בספורט ובחינוך הגופני
1. אקסיולוגיה בפילוסופיה של הספורט
2. ערכים ויעדים בחינוך הגופני בישראל
3. חשיבה מחדש באקסיולוגיה של הספורט והחינוך הגופני
4. כושר אופטימאלי ואיכות קיומית הוליסטית כערכים
ב. ערך הספורט לבריאות הוליסטית אופטימאלית
1. בריאות וכושר גופני
2. בריאות נפשית
3. שמחה, הנאה ואיכות חיים
ג. השלכות חינוכיות
1. השלכות לחינוך הספורטיבי
2. קביעת תכנית לאימון ספורטיבי
3. שיקולים חינוכיים בהוראת הספורט
4. השלכות בחינוך לאיכות קיומית הוליסטית
נספח: ערכו של החיזוק הגופני בתחייה הציונית לפי מקס נורדאו והראי"ה קוק
א. "היהדות במפגש עם הספורט האמריקאני", עמ' 25-23,
ב. "ספורט ובריאות הוליסטית – מבט תורני," עמ' 64-60.
היהדות במפגש עם הספורט האמריקאי
Answered by Rabbi Dr. Natan Ophir (Offenbacher), JVO Question #21, May 6, 2013
www.jewishvaluesonline.org/976
"
Excerpt from the Introduction: Although volumes have been written about Rav Abraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook (1865–1935), the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Palestine, little has been researched about his Central Universal Yeshiva (CUY). Popularly known as Yeshivat Mercaz Harav, and referred to as the flagship institution of modern religious Zionism, it began in the 1920's as the first Hebrew language yeshivah of higher learning in Palestine. The name Mercaz Harav referred to "the circle of students" in the beit midrash adjacent to the Chief Rabbi’s residence - the abbreviated name was meant to emphasize that the modest beginnings were merely a precursor to a grand universal vision of CUY. This article describes a little known aspect of this international vision - the proposed joint venture between R. Kook and R. Dr. Bernard (Dov) Revel, the founder of Yeshiva College in New York.
Excerpt from the conclusion: In sum, the weltanschauung of Mercaz Harav had a much more restricted impact on modern Orthodoxy in Western countries than R. Kook had envisioned. Similarly, Yeshiva University did not establish an exchange program with Mercaz Harav and the influence of R. Kook's Torat Eretz Yisrael was far more limited than R. Revel had hoped for. But, the historical reconstruction of events in this article portrays the academic “openness” of R. Kook as part of his Messianic-Utopian vision, a variegated panorama allowing a pedagogical spectrum of innovations.
Meanwhile, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, together with a group of Jewish psychiatrists and psychologists, was exploring meditative techniques from kabbalistic and hasidic sources. However, the Rebbe directed Landes not to utilize Kaplan’s meditations but rather to develop a non-hasidic scientifically based meditation.
In this article we examine the context of the Rebbe's correspondence and analyze his request by comparing it to the scientific meditative techniques being developed in the 1970's. We conclude by noting the implications for modern Jewish meditation.
It surveys all the literature relating to Reb Shlomo Carlebach with 120 annotated references. Note in particular section 10 which was the most challenging to write.
1. Introduction
2. Biographical Descriptions
3. Narratives & Interviews
4. Teachings In English
5. Teachings In Hebrew
6. Shlomo’s Stories & Videos
7. Music
8. The House of Love and Prayer & Neo Hasidism
9. The Carlebach Synagogue & The Moshav
10. Controversy
11. Scholarly Analysis
12. Legacy
Seven Approaches Towards Integrating Sports Within A Religious Lifestyle
The following is the published abstract. The article was printed in Hebrew in “Hagigei Hagivah” 11, 2004, pp. 81-91. This is the annual journal put out by the Givat Washington Religious College of Physical Education, the only religious Jewish college training physical education and sports teachers. It is located in Israel near Ashdod.
Should sports be integrated into a religious lifestyle? What are the obstacles and the challenges? Can one formulate and propound a philosophy of “Torah & Sports” similar to the educational ideals at the heart of modern Orthodoxy such as Torah & Avodah, Torah & Madah or Torah & Derekh Eretz?
The term “sports” is used here primarily to connote physical activities entailing elements of competitiveness, challenge and play whose intent is to further the goals of fitness and well-being.
Part I presents six aspects in the historical development of a moderately pro-sports orientation in most modern religious education systems.
1) Rabbinic responsa emphasizing the problems and dangers in integrating sports.
2) Maimonides’ emphasis on physical exercise as preventive medicine and his psychosomatic approach to the value of playfulness in ball playing.
3) The humanistic ideal of John Locke with its new educational motto, “a sound mind in a sound body” and the further development by Jean Jacques Rousseau, as humanistic ideas that led to the inclusion of physical education in European and American school curriculums.
4) The Torah Im Derekh Eretz approach as developed in 19th-20th century German Jewry in the educational ideas of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and Rabbi Dr. Joseph Carlebach which facilitated introducing gymnastics and sports as part of the curricula.
5) Max Nordau’s Judaic sports ethos in transforming the derogatory anti-semitic term Judenjungen into a laudatory depiction of Junge Juden. His influence on Herzl’s vision of a Zionistic nationalistic renewal movement.
6) The ideas of Dr. Isaac Breuer and Rav Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kuk with their emphasis on religious national renewal as an alternative to the secular Zionist approach. R. Kuk’s praise of sports and his emphasis on the value of physical exercise are collated and analyzed as part of the national teshuva in the redemptive process. This is interpreted as a formulation of the Hasidic ideal of purifying the material to serve God with devekut and elevating sparks of holiness.
Part two of this article builds an updated modernized version of integration based on the previous six directions by expanding upon the goals propounded in the Fitness Renaissance and Wellness Movement. Results of research from the philosophy of sports are set forth showing how sports contributes to personal and national wellness. Suggestions are offered to develop programs promoting life long fitness and to utilize sports for ethical, character and social development. I summarize the proposal as a symbiosis in which Jewish ethics and values influence the practical attitudes toward sports. In conclusion, it is recommended to train physical education teachers in the theory and practice of achieving a positive symbiosis of Torah and sports.
א. רוחניות וספורט: עיון היסטורי, פילוסופי ופסיכולוגי
1. הרקע ההיסטורי למפגש בין דת, רוחניות וספורט
2. "זרימה" ו"משחק בתחום" כרוחניות בספורט
3. חוויות שיא ומיסטיקה בספורט
ב. תקדימים ליחס רבני חיובי לספורט
4. יחסו החיובי של הרמב"ם להתעמלות ולמשחקי כדור
5. תורה עם דרך ארץ וספורט – הרש"ר הירש וממשיכי דרכו
6. קדושת הספורט לפי הראי"ה קוק
7. מגמות בשילוב הספורט בחיי היהודי
ג. לקראת סימביוזה חדשה של ספורט ורוחניות
8. שמונה מטרות ערכיות בספורט
9. סימביוזה של ערך
לקראת פילוסופיה דתית של הרוחניות בספורט
This article surveys a growing trend to integrate sports with spirituality.
First, I describe the historical influence of religion on sports, tracing the intertwining of the two from the Olympics in Ancient Greece and "Muscular Christianity" in the mid 19th century to the flourishing of sports in modern culture. A section is devoted to the Jewish response including Nordau's "Muscular Judaism", Hirschian synthesis of Torah with Sports and Rav Kuk's symbiotic integration. The first section concludes with a description of how sports are sometimes viewed as the "newest universal religion" with myriads of devotees discovering emotional satisfaction, self-fulfillment and personal well-being. Indeed, for some vocal fans or "true" believers, sports have assumed religious trappings with superstar athletes as idols, sportscasters as scribes, and houses of worship in expansive stadiums.
In the second section, I examine research in philosophy and psychology of sports which has focused on spiritual experiences in sports. What is the meaning of the subjective experiences of awe, wonder and well-being in sports? What are the "exceptional experiences" which athletes describe as "highs" of optimal performance? I survey the studies where sport experiences are described using language such as joy and bliss, peace and wholeness, intuition and self transcendence. These "altered states of consciousness" have been defined as "peak experiences" (Maslow) and "flow" (Csikszentmihalyi), and have even been said to contain a numinous dimension (Ravizza, Murphy and White). "Flow theory" defines "playing in the zone" as an effortless merging of action and awareness accompanied by unique sensations such as a loss of self-consciousness and autotelic (self-rewarding) experience. "Flow" can include moments of illumination and ecstasy, altered perceptions of time and space, and exceptional feats of strength and endurance.
The article concludes with practical directions for enhancing a more beneficiary symbiotic relationship between these two potentially congenial bedfellows, sports and spirituality.
תוכן עניינים
א. אקסיולוגיה בספורט ובחינוך הגופני
1. אקסיולוגיה בפילוסופיה של הספורט
2. ערכים ויעדים בחינוך הגופני בישראל
3. חשיבה מחדש באקסיולוגיה של הספורט והחינוך הגופני
4. כושר אופטימאלי ואיכות קיומית הוליסטית כערכים
ב. ערך הספורט לבריאות הוליסטית אופטימאלית
1. בריאות וכושר גופני
2. בריאות נפשית
3. שמחה, הנאה ואיכות חיים
ג. השלכות חינוכיות
1. השלכות לחינוך הספורטיבי
2. קביעת תכנית לאימון ספורטיבי
3. שיקולים חינוכיים בהוראת הספורט
4. השלכות בחינוך לאיכות קיומית הוליסטית
נספח: ערכו של החיזוק הגופני בתחייה הציונית לפי מקס נורדאו והראי"ה קוק
א. "היהדות במפגש עם הספורט האמריקאני", עמ' 25-23,
ב. "ספורט ובריאות הוליסטית – מבט תורני," עמ' 64-60.
היהדות במפגש עם הספורט האמריקאי
Answered by Rabbi Dr. Natan Ophir (Offenbacher), JVO Question #21, May 6, 2013
www.jewishvaluesonline.org/976
"
Excerpt from the Introduction: Although volumes have been written about Rav Abraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook (1865–1935), the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Palestine, little has been researched about his Central Universal Yeshiva (CUY). Popularly known as Yeshivat Mercaz Harav, and referred to as the flagship institution of modern religious Zionism, it began in the 1920's as the first Hebrew language yeshivah of higher learning in Palestine. The name Mercaz Harav referred to "the circle of students" in the beit midrash adjacent to the Chief Rabbi’s residence - the abbreviated name was meant to emphasize that the modest beginnings were merely a precursor to a grand universal vision of CUY. This article describes a little known aspect of this international vision - the proposed joint venture between R. Kook and R. Dr. Bernard (Dov) Revel, the founder of Yeshiva College in New York.
Excerpt from the conclusion: In sum, the weltanschauung of Mercaz Harav had a much more restricted impact on modern Orthodoxy in Western countries than R. Kook had envisioned. Similarly, Yeshiva University did not establish an exchange program with Mercaz Harav and the influence of R. Kook's Torat Eretz Yisrael was far more limited than R. Revel had hoped for. But, the historical reconstruction of events in this article portrays the academic “openness” of R. Kook as part of his Messianic-Utopian vision, a variegated panorama allowing a pedagogical spectrum of innovations.
Meanwhile, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, together with a group of Jewish psychiatrists and psychologists, was exploring meditative techniques from kabbalistic and hasidic sources. However, the Rebbe directed Landes not to utilize Kaplan’s meditations but rather to develop a non-hasidic scientifically based meditation.
In this article we examine the context of the Rebbe's correspondence and analyze his request by comparing it to the scientific meditative techniques being developed in the 1970's. We conclude by noting the implications for modern Jewish meditation.
עבודת דוקטוראט של ד"ר נתן אופיר (אופנבכר):
הרב חסדאי קרשקש כפרשן פילוסופי למאמרי חז"ל לאור התמורות בהגותו, הוגש לסינט האוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים, טבת תשנ"ג. העבודה נכתבה בהדרכת פרופ' יעקב אלבוים ופרופ' אביעזר רביצקי.
Natan Ophir, “A New Reading in Ohr Hashem of Rabbi Hasdai Crescas and the Problem of the Conversos", Proceedings of the Eleventh World Congress of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, 1994, pp. 41-47