Poster N writes in regards to why we need vacations these days:
(excue the lack of grammar)
smargoner,
material standards and 'needs' have gone up. but never mind that, big topic for now...
Consider even a non material type family...the dynamics of life are simply pressured.
A tiny example: send kids off in the morning to yeshiva. a mother has to pick out clothes, get a kid(s) dressed, fed, knapsack in order, homework signed off, make sure that she is dressed appropriately, run down from the 3rd or 4th floor maybe no elevator, leave screaming toddlers alone while she takes other kids to the bus.
She may have to wait twenty minutes worrying about welfare of baby/toddlers upstairs out of site.. maybe leave a three year old on the sidewalk while crossing the street to load the five year old meanwhile apprehensive about the three year old staying put on the sidewalk instead of following her into the street...etc. the possible tension of a simple non event takes its toll and can be expounded upon with no embellishment....
What were the old days? leaving the house for cheder didn't necessarily mean feeding anybody (who had food), getting dressed (you slept in the same set of clothes that you wore all week), signing off homework or assembling a knapsack( paper was a real commodity and no one brought a breifcase to cheder), and walking out the front door to cheder alone without mommy or a bus. Cheder was in the neighborhood and it was a given that a five year old walks there by himself..pretty relaxing for the mommy compared to today....etc, etc...
עד כאן לשונו הטהור
However, to their credit, people worked a lot harder in those days, and had the local Goyim to worry about besides for Parnosoh. So, I would tend to disagree.
heshy,
ReplyDeletethanks for the top billing. 1) people worked harder, but exertion is healthy and not typically stressful..exerise is hard but it reduces stress...2) worrying about goyim...i think that we may all be projecting a bit..its very likely that people didn't feel daily stress or constant worrying about the goyim.... Its very likely from a physiological standpoint that the kids and the bus incident is just as nerve racking as the occational run in with the problematic goy and it is a fact that the stress level from the kid incident happens twenty times a day in different arenas....
How can you compare the stress of a sheitel and dres looking good to the stress of yesteryear? worrying about tomorrow's bread, health issues etc.?
ReplyDeletetziggy, is it just you and me here or did you go to the country too....stress is real never mind the source...if one feels it its real and takes its toll.. sheital and dress is the category that i'm not expounding upon. YOu said that you tend to disagree with my post and mentioned working hard and fear of goyim. cold hard facts of life may be tough to live with (no bread, hard work, goyim) but these were accepted givens in life with no real material expectations so the stress factor was way down..I think. The gnawing pain of hunger was factual, hard to live with but a simple fact of life. Yidden felt that g-d was with them and they probably saw deliverance on a daily basis, we deliver ourselves (perception)and really recognize g-d sporadically. LIfe in a certain fashion is much more stresseful today even though on so many fronts life seems to be easier...
ReplyDeleteN
ReplyDeleteyou went to school, try and use some grammar, I can't follow your posts!
tziggy, where did everyone go?
ReplyDeleteN,
ReplyDeleteAre you 'Gevurah' from that dumb, infamous Chabadtalk site?
You both speak in incomprehensible riddles.
N.
ReplyDeleteCertainly you would admit that your fellow Charedim work hard and are "stressed" out in the UK and Israel as well. Well in the UK the Charedi vcation is 2 weeks after Tisha BeAv, and I will let you tell me how long the Charedi vacation is in Eretz Israel.
Nrxt certainly the MO housewife is also stressed out , she has a profession up to 5-6 children who also eat and wear clothes and yet they do not seem to need to go away lock stock and barrel for 8-10 weeks !
The real reason for this vacation is the dynamics of marriage and love (or lack of it) between spouses). the 8-10 weeks away allow husband and wife to spend time alone away from ach other and recuperate. It also allows the husband some peaceful time without constant noise and harrasment that comes with large families.Its the onlt time of the year he can actually think at home .
Hence shalom bayit is well served by these extended vacations and I suppose the more attuned rabbis are aware of this fact.
I just heard that in lakewood rabbonim there have banned young couples from eating at each others homes on Shabbos because of ...
Al achas kama vekama the 8-10 weeks of the country offer endless possibilities for behavior hepech ha Torah.
So there are reason pro and con for the 614 Mitzvah of going to the Countries.