Last week we discussed the fascinating shailah about whether an Olympic athlete may practice his swimming during the Nine Days.
A number of people complained to me that the shailah is a non-starter as it is forbidden for a Jew to be an Olympic athlete as the Olympics is avodah zorah. Additionally, to keep things interesting I included a picture of the Olympic logo, and again people complained saying “how could I include such a picture, it is avodah zorah”.
Personally, such thoughts went through my mind, but I thought that although originally it may have been associated with avodah zorah, today people no longer associate with avodah zorah, therefore, today it would no longer be a problem.
To confirm my suspicions, I spoke with a number of rabbonim and they all agreed with me, please find below some of the answers I received:
R’ Yitzchok Breitowitz, Rosh Yeshivah of Ohr Sameach who is very knowledgeable in both history and halachah told me: “There may be a number of reasons why the Olympics may not be the proper environment for a frum person but it is not avodah zorah. It is no longer connected to its origin.”
R’ Amram Fried’s Beis Hora’ah responded: האולימפיאדה אינה עבודה זרה, והסמל שלה אינו סמל לעבודה זרה.
Various other rabbonim I spoke to said: “It is definitely not a Jewish thing, and is based on Greek values, but why do you question that it might be avoda zorah?” Meaning, it’s not a good Jewish thing to be doing, but it isn’t a question of avodah zorah.
Iy’H on a future occasion we will delve into this topic more deeply, perhaps when the next Olympics next comes around. For now, if anyone comes across anything about this topic, please feel free to share with me the information.
