By COLlive reporter
The Institute for Science and Halacha in Jerusalem, led by Rabbi Yitzchak Halperin, was recently asked about the use of the fidget spinners on Shabbos.
The request came from children themselves who, like many their age around the world, have been obsessed by the activity craze.
Their question joined more requests the institute has received in the last week about its permissibility on the holy day of Shabbos, according to the website ch10.co.il.
The funky-shaped plastic or metal orbits a bearing, often for minutes at a time with a single spin, CNN describes it.
Rabbis of the institute dismantled and examined a spinner and responded that a regular spinner is allowed to be played on Shabbos without any fear of chilul Shabbos.
They did stress that spinners which light up or have similar functions are forbidden, like any similar toy.
They did recommend that children do not bring the spinners to shul on Shabbos, “not to disrespect the sanctity and holiness of the place, and certainly not to play it during davening and reading of the Torah.”
The rabbis also pointed out that while the spinner is said to help children with concentration problems, it can be seen as disrespect to the teachers in class.
but pity the teacher who has to put up with 2 dozen spinners while s/he is trying to capture the students’ interest. fidgets may ( or may not ?) be a good idea for the student with adhd, but it actually becomes a distraction when used by other students. our kids are slowly being weaned away from the skill of focusing and that’s not good.
Well said bravo questions with a real feel of sincerity should always be asked (listen to rabbi YY Jacobsons talks about emunah)
To # 7
Who is that Rov ?
Do you mean the Debritziner ?
What’s the name of his Seifer and which Simen ?
The children need something to do while the rabbi is making his long winded boring speech. The Dereczinner paskens that while someone at the table is talking nonsense at length, it is permitted to play with a fork to occupy your mind while ignoring the speaker.
I was taught in yeshiva that the only stupid question, is the one that is not asked.
was there really any question in regards to the questions asked…its very important to be able to answer these very simple halachic questions without the consult of a Rav, after all this why we learn the reasoning behind halachas and think like Yidden.
So now they throw spinners
Why look for problems, and reasons to ban something??!?
The we’re invented by Israel for Arab kids to have something else to play with instead of throwing rocks.
I’d this the same entity that has a Shabbos microphone?