At the very beginning of Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim, the Rema quotes the Rambam in the Moreh:
"שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד" הוא כלל גדול בתורה ובמעלות הצדיקים אשר הולכים לפני האלהים; כי אין ישיבת האדם ותנועותיו ועסקיו והוא לבדו בביתו, כישיבתו ותנועותיו ועסקיו והוא לפני מלך גדול; ולא דיבורו והרחבת פיו כרצונו, והוא עם אנשי ביתו וקרוביו, כדיבורו במושב המלך. כל שכן, כשישים האדם אל ליבו שהמלך הגדול, הקב"ה אשר מלא כל הארץ כבודו, עומד עליו ורואה במעשיו, כמו שנאמר: "אם יסתר איש במסתרים ואני לא אראנו נאם ה'", מיד יגיע אליו היראה וההכנעה בפחד השי"ת ובושתו ממנו תמיד.
The Foundation of being a Jew is that he constantly lives in the presence of Hashem. I was watching the famed Sarachek basketball tournament. I saw some good ball players. I saw a lot of excitement. It is WONDERFUL that these young men should have this outlet. It is NOT HEALTHY for boys to sit all day and all night in front of books - regardless of whether the books are secular or lihavdil holy. Boys need to jump and run and move around. It is critical for body and soul alike. It is a fact of nature and nature is, as the Chazon Ish put it, the constant will of Hashem. Don't try to fight nature. You will lose. Halevai that in Eretz Yisrael, Yeshiva boys would be allowed and encouraged to engage in physical activities other than going up and down the stairs to the Beis Medrash.
That being said - I didn't get the sense that there was any Yiras Shomayim at these games. The atmosphere was no different than at any non-Jewish sporting event. The uniforms were the same. Are shorts and tank tops appropriate garb for Bnei Torah? Is Tzniyus only for girls? Tzitzis anyone?? As a person who grows up as part of that culture, it is natural and what I am writing is CRAZZZY. But I am writing as an outsider looking in and trying to determine if this fits with [as people like to say today] "our values". Have these young men been taught that it is just a game and has no real cosmic value? That it is just an outlet and a diversion from what really matters in life? And that what REALLY matters is how they develop their personalities and middos in the direction of G-dliness?? That knowing ONE PASUK or Mishna is worth more than a hundred three pointers?? I am not sure if we are conveying these messages and thus we are MISLEADING [unwittingly and with no malicious intent] our most valuable asset - our youth. I am emotionally invested in this issue b/c as a young man I was misled into buying into secular pop-culture with all that it entails. Of course, there was some Yiddishkeit mixed in but the pot was treif and kosher food cooked in a treif pot is ... trief. It wasn't until I grew up a little, came to Israel and saw the absolute contradiction between the Galus Yavan we are swimming in and our 5,000 year tradition that I came to my senses.
This brief essay should be לעילוי נשמת Bernard Red Sarachek.
