{"id":9588,"date":"2014-09-04T01:00:37","date_gmt":"2014-09-03T22:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=9588"},"modified":"2019-11-21T11:41:05","modified_gmt":"2019-11-21T09:41:05","slug":"14-04-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/14-04-01\/","title":{"rendered":"01. Male Masturbation and the Prohibition of \u201cWasting Seed\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>God created human beings with a powerful drive for love and a mutual attraction between men and women. This drive, when guided by sanctity, serves as the foundation of the marital covenant and for the closeness of husband and wife, about which the Torah says, \u201cAnd he shall cling to his wife, so that they become one flesh\u201d (Bereishit 2:24). This \u201cclinging\u201d begins with the mitzva of <em>ona<\/em> and culminates in the mitzva of procreation. By having children together, they unite literally in one flesh.<\/p>\n<p>Since the attraction between men and women is the foundation of life and the strongest human drive, we have been commanded to enter into the covenant with God by removing the foreskin of the penis, the organ that joins man and woman. This is <em>brit mila<\/em>, the covenant of circumcision. With the removal of the foreskin, which symbolizes misdirected desire, the sacred covenant between God and Israel extends to the marriage covenant between husband and wife. When they engage in joyful lovemaking, the <em>Shekhina<\/em> dwells with them (<em>Sota<\/em> 17a), and their union leads to an abundance of love and blessing, benevolence and delight, life and peace, spreading throughout the world (see <em>Berakhot<\/em> 6b and <em>Yevamot<\/em> 62b).<\/p>\n<p>In contrast, when this powerful impulse is corrupted, it damages the covenant. Instead of sanctifying it through the couple\u2019s loving fulfillment of the <em>mitzvot <\/em>of <em>ona <\/em>and procreation, it is corrupted by adultery or self-gratification. This was the sin of the generation of the flood, of which the Torah says, \u201cGod saw how corrupt the earth was, for all flesh had corrupted its way on earth\u201d (Bereishit 6:12). People continued to be drawn after their desires, committing the sins of adultery, idol worship, and theft, until the entire world was destroyed by the flood. The Sages explain that the punishment was <em>quid pro quo<\/em>: they sinned by corrupting the fiery passion that should have aroused their love in the context of marriage, using it for masturbation and adultery instead, so they were consumed by the boiling floodwaters (<em>Sanhedrin<\/em> 108a-b).<\/p>\n<p>The sin of wasting seed \u2013 male masturbation \u2013 has an aspect of the sin of adultery, which is so grave that it is one of the Ten Commandments. On the verse, \u201cYou shall not commit adultery\u201d (Shemot 20:13), the Sages comment: \u201cThere should be no adultery in you \u2013 not even your hand or foot\u201d; in other words, a man must not masturbate with his hands or feet (<em>Nidda<\/em> 13b). Likewise, on the verse, \u201cHe shall cling to his wife, so that they become one flesh\u201d (Bereishit 2:24), the Sages comment: \u201cHe shall cling to his wife and not someone else\u2019s wife. He shall cling to his wife and not another man or an animal\u201d (<em>y.<\/em> <em>Kiddushin<\/em> 1:1). R. Tzadok Ha-Kohen explains further that a man should not ejaculate anywhere other than with his wife (<em>Tzidkat Ha-tzadik<\/em> \u00a7121). This drive for life is meant to increase the love and devotion of a married couple. One who corrupts it in order to indulge his urges harms his ability to love his wife devotedly.<\/p>\n<p>Masturbation is also antithetical to the mitzva of procreation. We know that it displeases God from the story in which Er and Onan wasted their seed to ensure that Tamar would not get pregnant. The Torah states, \u201cBut Er, Judah\u2019s firstborn, was displeasing to the Lord, and the Lord took his life\u201d (Bereishit 38:7), and shortly afterwards states about Onan, \u201cWhat he did was displeasing to the Lord, and He took his life also\u201d (<em>ibid<\/em>. v. 10). Therefore, coitus interruptus is forbidden. Even if a man does so when his wife cannot conceive in any case, such as when she is pregnant, nursing, or menopausal, he transgresses this prohibition (<em>Yevamot<\/em> 34b).<sup><a href='#_te01ftn4_1' id='_te01ftnref4_1' class='aup1'>[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<div>\n<hr size=\"1\" \/>\n<div>\n<a href='#_te01ftnref4_1' id='_te01ftn4_1'>[1]<\/a>. <em>Poskim<\/em> disagree as to whether a couple may have relations in which the husband ejaculates somewhere other than the vagina, if they find it pleasurable (as discussed by Rema, EH 25:2; see above, ch. 2 n. 19). However, if the motive for doing so is contraceptive, even those who are normally permissive prohibit it (<em>Derisha<\/em>, EH 23:1). Yet even according to those who forbid, when a man ejaculates during non-vaginal intercourse or during foreplay, the prohibition is less severe than if he were to masturbate, since he is still being intimate with his wife and giving her some pleasure (<em>Sefer \u1e24aredim<\/em> ch. 63; <em>Avnei Nezer<\/em>, EH 83).<\/p>\n<p>According to <em>Tosafot<\/em> (<em>Sanhedrin<\/em> 59b s.v \u201cve-ha\u201d), the prohibition of wasting seed is an extension of the mitzva of procreation. Some say that the prohibition is derived from the biblical story of Er and Onan (<em>Pri Megadim<\/em>, <em>Eshel Avraham<\/em> 3:14; <em>Ben Yehoyada<\/em>, <em>Nidda<\/em> 13a). Others explain that the act is forbidden because of the prohibition of <em>bal tash\u1e25it <\/em>(wasteful destruction) (R. Yaakov Ettlinger in <em>Arukh La-ner<\/em>, <em>Nidda<\/em> 13b and in <em>Binyan Tziyon<\/em> \u00a7137). <em>Or Zaru\u2019a<\/em> 1:124 and <em>Smak<\/em> \u00a7292 include it in the prohibition of \u201cDo not commit adultery,\u201d based on the extrapolation of the Sages in <em>Nidda<\/em> 13b. Finally, <em>Ba\u1e25<\/em> (3:6) sees the source of the prohibition in the verse, \u201cStay away from every evil thing\u201d (Devarim 23:10), which the Sages explain to mean that \u201ca man mustn\u2019t entertain thoughts during the day that will cause him to become impure at night\u201d (AZ 20b).<\/p>\n<p>A\u1e25aronim are divided regarding the severity of the prohibition. Many say that it is biblical (R. Shneur Zalman Fradkin of Lublin, <em>Torat \u1e24esed<\/em>, EH 43:1-2; <em>Pri Megadim<\/em>; R. \u1e24ayim Palachi, <em>\u1e24ayim Ve-shalom<\/em>, 2:18; <em>Ezrat Kohen<\/em> \u00a732; <em>Igrot Moshe<\/em>, EH 3:14). Others maintain that it is rabbinic (<em>Responsa Pnei Yehoshua<\/em> 2:44; <em>Meshivat Nefesh<\/em> \u00a718; <em>Ezer Mi-kodesh<\/em> 23:2; R. Shlomo Kluger, <em>Mei Nidda<\/em>, <em>Kuntres A\u1e25aron<\/em> 195:7; <em>Torot Emet<\/em>, EH 23). It seems that even according to those <em>poskim<\/em> who believe that the transgression is only rabbinic, its basis is from the Torah, because it is contrary to the Torah\u2019s goals in the <em>mitzvot<\/em> of <em>ona<\/em> and procreation. For a more extensive discussion of this topic, see R. Tzadok Ha-Kohen of Lublin, <em>Takanat Ha-shavin<\/em> \u00a715.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>God created human beings with a powerful drive for love and a mutual attraction between men and women. This drive, when guided by sanctity, serves as the foundation of the marital covenant and for the closeness of husband and wife, about which the Torah says, \u201cAnd he shall cling to his wife, so that they [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[157],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-14-04"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>01. 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