I would first try searching through Tanach for some precedent of waking up early, before it is time for davening, in order to watch a mischak, a sport. And the obvious precedent is the Leviathan. As we know, Hashem created the Leviathan to play/sport with, as we read in Tehillim 104:
| כו שָׁם, אֳנִיּוֹת יְהַלֵּכוּן; לִוְיָתָן, זֶה-יָצַרְתָּ לְשַׂחֶק-בּוֹ. | 26 There go the ships; there is leviathan, whom Thou hast formed to sport therein. |
Indeed, the Talmud tells us that part of the reward for the righteous will be to see gladiatorial combat between the Behemoth and Leviathan, after which they will partake in a meal of the Leviathan. So the Leviathan is a form of entertainment and sport.
May one wake up the Leviathan early in the morning, before twilight? We have precedent for that as well, as we see in Iyyov 3:
It is obviously possible to treat this question more seriously, but I'm not in the mood to do so right now.
3 comments:
That's for spectator sports, but when it comes to engaging in sport, of course, one can invoke the precedent of "Vayakumu L'tzacheik"
Hmm... what about the issue of in the first quote, who's doing the לשחק and to what noun does בו refer?
both of you make good points. :)
in terms of the first quote, I would read it like the gemara does (Avodah Zarah 3b), that it is Hashem playing with the Leviathan. In which case, Hashem is the one playing with the Leviathan, and those waking up Leviathan just want to do so to witness the games.
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