Done Deal? August 6, 2026 Excerpted and adapted from a shiur by Dayan Yehonoson Dovid…
Breaking Point: Recreation in Halacha
Adapted from the writings of Dayan Yitzhak Grossman
May 28, 2026
The question of how much recess children should have in school has recently been the subject of debate in the American media.
The value of recess for a child’s well-being was acknowledged by the Ri Hazakein (R’ Yitzchak ben Shmuel of Dampierre) more than eight hundred years ago, in the course of discussing whether a rebbi may quit if a replacement is not immediately available:
With respect to a teacher as well, if it resembles the hiring of workers in the morning, and he quits at a time when replacements are not available, and the child will need to be idle for a long time, it is considered a davar ha’aveid (something that will be lost), in which case a worker may not quit[1]…For here, too, the deterioration of the child is a great loss, as it says, “If you abandon me for a day, I shall abandon you for two days.”[2] And aside from his deterioration, there is irreversible loss (pseida delo hadar)[3] from his idleness on days when it is appropriate to study…
But now that there are passersby who desire to hire themselves out, and the child will only need to be idle briefly, we should only invoke davar ha’aveid with respect to that brief period, because a teacher will soon be found. And even that brief period might not constitute a davar ha’aveid, e.g., if the child already knows how to read Torah, Nevi’im, and Ksuvim without a teacher. And even without study, sometimes it is healthy for the child to have a small break while studying, and we do not compel him against his will. And the father does not routinely push himself to hire a teacher for a brief period until one becomes available. But if he does push himself routinely, the loss is a davar ha’aveid.[4]
As we have previously noted,[5] another strong defender of recreation time is R’ Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, who repeatedly defends its legitimacy in the face of his correspondent’s bewilderment:
Questioner: During Chanukah and the like there are those who are lenient about engaging in play (mis’chak), and they want to justify it based on reports that some bnei Torah were accustomed to do it. But this is difficult to understand (tzarich iyun), for what benefit is there in play that it should not entail the sin of bitul Torah?…
Rav Sonnenfeld: I previously cited the Gemara (Bava Basra 91b) that R’ Yochanan said, “I remember when a boy and girl would play together in the marketplace and they were as old as sixteen or seventeen, yet they would not sin.” (R’ Yochanan was noting the spiritual decline that had occurred during his lifetime, as the youth of Tveriah had once been that pure.) It seems that they had times for play, apparently fixed, perhaps for health reasons…Perhaps it is included in “a time to laugh.”[6] Apparently they had this so they would be engaged in something rather than being idle, because “idleness brings to…[zimah (unchastity) or shiamum (insanity)],”[7] and not everyone can sit and study Torah constantly, so they did not object. And in this, too, I say that we should not cast aspersions on the minhag of Yisrael, a holy nation, because doing this prevented them from turning to worse things, like listening to the news and the like.[8]
Questioner: You wrote that play does not constitute the sin of bitul Torah because not everyone is able to study Torah constantly, I question this from Menachos (99b): “Go out and seek a moment that is neither of the day nor of the night, and study in it Greek wisdom.” (I.e., it says, “You shall contemplate it (Torah) day and night,”[9] and there is no moment that is neither, so one is never free to refrain from contemplating Torah and study Greek wisdom.) And it says in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim (307:16) that it is forbidden to read books of wars even during the week, due to bitul Torah.[10] Also regarding boys and girls playing, you yourself wrote that perhaps that was for health. But that only pertains to movement of the body, as the Rambam wrote (in Hilchos Deios perek 4), but what does this playing (i.e., cards or dice) have to do with health?
Rav Sonnenfeld: It is obvious that sometimes physicians instruct that walking is good, and that is for the sake of health—and there is no objection here—and they sometimes order that one should not engage in intense study (iyun) but in play (dvar sechok), and that is for the sake of health.[11]
Questioner: …A sick person compelled by doctor’s orders is different. The question is in general, because we find that he told him to seek a moment that is not of the day…and also from the fact that it is forbidden to read accounts of wars. So how is that game better?…
Rav Sonnenfeld: I have seen your critiques and I have written only my inclination. On all the points, I do not retract what I have written, though the matter is not before me.[12]
Finally, we note the report of the Knessess Hagedolah (R’ Chaim Benveniste):
And so I have seen with my teacher the rav z”l (the Maharit, R’ Yosef miTrani), and all the gedolei hador, that they did not protest against a person who played chess. I also heard that when he would see two people playing chess, he would teach them the ways of the game. I also heard about the rav Mahari Basan z”l that he himself played chess, and so has the custom spread…[13]
It is difficult to understand why the Pri Megadim[14] and the Mishnah Brurah[15] flatly prohibit chess as moshav leitzim without acknowledging the Knessess Hagedolah’s account of “gedolei hador” that apparently condoned chess and even played themselves or helped others do so.
[1]See Bava Metzia 76b; Shulchan Aruch C.M. 333:5.
[2]See Wikipedia here for a discussion of the source of this aphorism.
[3]See Bava Basra 21b.
[4]Printed in Shu”t Maharam (R’ Meir ben Baruch meiRutenberg) dfus Prague siman 477, cited in Hagahos Ashri Bava Metzia perek 6 siman 6 and Shach C.M. siman 333 s.k. 26. Our translation primarily follows the text of the Shu”t Maharam, with some modifications based on the text of the Hagahos Ashri.
[5]Ich Bet Eich: Gambling in Halacha. Dec. 24, 2020.
[8]Shu”t Salmas Chaim (Yerushalayim 5767) siman 363.
[10]The stated basis for the prohibition is actually moshav leitzim, but the Gemara’s discussion of moshav leitzim in Avodah Zarah 18b seems to connect it to bitul Torah. Cf. Shu”t Igros Moshe Y.D. cheilek 4 siman 11 os 1.
[11]Ibid. siman 364.
[12]Ibid. siman 365.
[13]Knessess Hagedolah C.M. siman 370 Hagahos Tur os 4.
[14]Pri Megadim O.C. siman 338 Eishel Avraham os 8.
[15]Mishnah Brurah ibid. s.k. 21.
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