Q&A: Guarding One’s Eyes
Guarding One’s Eyes
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I am not married, and for various reasons I am generally unable to emit semen through masturbation at all; by contrast, I do occasionally have nocturnal emissions.
1. Am I obligated to guard my eyes from immodest sights, or since they cannot lead to semen emission in my case am I not obligated in this regard?
2. Assuming that I am, what is the definition of immodest sights that are forbidden to look at (for me or for others)? Is everything that a woman is forbidden to wear — short sleeves and the like — also forbidden to look at? Is guarding one’s eyes simply part of the prohibition of “do not stray,” so that only what leads to improper thoughts is forbidden, and this depends on the person, the society, the time period…?
Thank you.
Answer
Hello.
In Jewish law, these sights are also treated as a cause of nocturnal emission. So that alone is enough to prohibit them. Beyond that, some views hold that immodest sights are prohibited in and of themselves, and not only as a means that could lead to semen emission, although here there is room to be lenient.
I didn’t understand whether you have sinful thoughts but just do not emit semen, or whether there are no such thoughts at all. Because if there are sinful thoughts, then it seems proper to prohibit this (Yoma 29b), where in Guide for the Perplexed, Part III, Chapter 8, he explained that this is an ethical prohibition in the thought itself. However, it seems that this is not really a formal halakhic prohibition.
Discussion on Answer
Indeed, it is a Torah prohibition, whose parameters I outlined briefly. See an overview here: https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A1%D7%95%D7%A8_%D7%94%D7%A1%D7%AA%D7%9B%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%AA_%D7%91%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%95%D7%94
Is there not an independent Torah prohibition, “and do not stray after your hearts and after your eyes,” forbidding looking at sexually immodest sights?