{"id":98760,"date":"2022-11-20T03:38:13","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T01:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/?p=98760"},"modified":"2022-11-20T03:38:13","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T01:38:13","slug":"the-cup-of-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/the-cup-of-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cup of Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cup of Victory<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was once visiting Argentina when the World Soccer Series was taking place. Many countries were vying for the Gold Cup. The tournament reached its peak as I arrived at the shores of South America. The tension was palpable in the air, as the entire world was riveted to their television screens, intent on discovering who would win.<\/p>\n

A few Jews came to me and asked if I knew which team would win. \u201cTomorrow is Shabbat Kodesh,\u201d I replied. \u201cI am scheduled to deliver a shiur.<\/em>\u00a0 Come to the lecture and I will let you know my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The men looked at one another and smiled sheepishly. Finally, one gathered the boldness to say, \u201cHonored Rav, we will not be able to attend the shiur<\/em> tomorrow. The final and fateful game will take place just then. We will be tuned in to our TV sets at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was shocked at their words. \u201cBut tomorrow is Shabbat! It is forbidden to watch television then!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, the Rav does not need to worry at all. We turn on the set before Shabbat comes in, or we ask a gentile to turn it on for us,\u201d they replied self-righteously. But I could not agree with their line of reasoning. \u201cEven if you do not turn on the TV sets by yourself, it is a disgrace to the sanctity of the day to spend it gazing at the screen. Besides, there are halachic ramifications to asking a gentile to do labor on Shabbat.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenge was great. These people could not forego the pleasure of watching the game. I finally told them, \u201cYou will overcome the temptation to watch the game. Come, instead, to the Torah shiur<\/em>, and I will reveal to you the winners of the game.\u201d Baruch Hashem<\/em>, this suggestion found favor in their eyes.<\/p>\n

The news spread wings. Suddenly, everyone found out that I would disclose the winners at my Torah shiur<\/em>. Out of curiosity, many Jews and even gentiles attended the lecture, in order to hear the game results.<\/p>\n

I began with divrei Torah<\/em>, as I had initially intended. The audience was attentive and enjoyed my words. Even the gentiles later related to their friends how impressed they were with the truth of Torah.<\/p>\n

After I finished my planned speech, I leaned forward over the lectern. \u201cDo you want me to reveal the winner of today\u2019s game?\u201d<\/p>\n

The resounding \u201cYes!\u201d was heard for miles around.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the winners! We have overcome the Yetzer Hara<\/em>! We refused to desecrate the Shabbat by gazing at the television sets. Instead, we spent our time hearing divrei Torah<\/em>! Victory is ours!\u201d<\/p>\n

After a moment, I added, \u201cIt is impossible to love soccer and Hashem at the same time. Baruch Hashem, you have withstood this difficult temptation and triumphed. How fortunate are you, Israel!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cup of Victory I was once visiting Argentina when the World Soccer Series was taking place. Many countries were vying for the Gold Cup. The tournament reached its peak as I arrived at the shores of South America. The tension was palpable in the air, as the entire world was riveted to their television […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":58904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1087],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-challenges"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}