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A Handful of Questions PDF Print E-mail
Written by Tzvi Fishman   
Thursday, 09 February 2012

Question:
I would like to ask several questions: First, is the prohibition of touching the genitals forbidden from the Torah, or did the rabbis prohibit it in order to prevent the spilling of seed in vain?

Also, is this prohibition  across the board? Meaning, sometimes it's quite impossible to not touch one’s member, for example, I find it near impossible to urinate without holding it. And also while showering - this is quite a problem for me especially while soaping down there. Am I even allowed to rinse and soap down there because sometimes this can be quite arousing! And if this is actually not allowed, there must be some way to do it in a permissible way? Also, is it also prohibitted to touch the testicles? And why is it forbidden for a man to see his wife naked and vice versa? They are husband and wife after all. And just like it's forbidden for a man to see woman not dressed modestly, is it also forbidden for a woman to see men/boys at the pool? And also is it also forbidden for girls to masturbate since there will be no spilling of the seed in vain?

Answer:
The prohibition of handling the staff of the male sexual organ is from the Rabbis, but that does not mean it is something to be taken lightly. The Rabbis receive their ability to make decrees from the Torah itself. However, in this matter, the Rabbis say that if a man knows he won’t come to spill semen in vain by touching his organ, then he is allowed to do so if he deems it necessary to carry out normal functions like urination. It is permitted to touch the testicles for a similar necessity, even scratching an itch, but soaping the area should be done with a washrag without lingering there long.  It is forbidden for a man to see a woman’s sexual organ, even his wife’s, as it arouses sexual thoughts of an unholy nature and breaches laws of modesty. While the prohibition is less stringent for a wife seeing her husband naked, it also is not spiritually healthy for her to look at his sexual organ, for Kabbalistic reasons and for modesty. But a woman doesn’t have the same prohibition of looking at men in bathing suits, like men do with women, but looking at men in immodest bathing suits also should be avoided. Women are also included in the general Torah commandment to “Be holy, for I the L-rd your G-d am holy.” Therefore they should not masturbate. Additionally, Kabbalists teach that women also have a spiritual entity like semen which is damaged by masturbation.

 
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