What is the logic behind the prohibition of ejaculating for no reason?
Hi, Your Honor.
Recently, I began to do some research on the issue of the prohibition of ejaculating for no reason and came to a source in the Gemara where the Gemara teaches from Meir and Onan that it is forbidden to ejaculate for no reason.
My question is, anyone who looks at the verses without the interpretation of the Sages will come to the conclusion that God was angry with Onan solely because he did not produce seed for his brother and has nothing to do with the fact that he spilled the seed. The Sages learned from this that in general it is forbidden to produce seed for nothing, but it is very difficult to think that this was the intention of the Torah. The idea occurred to me that perhaps the Sages forbade this because in their time scientific knowledge thought it was harmful and therefore today the prohibition is irrelevant. And if so, when the Sanhedrin is established, will we be able to change this prohibition and allow it?
(And even if we assume that the Sages were right, how could a masturbator know that it is forbidden to ejaculate for nothing? There was no Torah in the world at that time that would prohibit this.)
It is very likely that the Sages understood this from a sabbath, and assumed that Onan was also supposed to understand this. It is unlikely that this is because of the harm that this brings, since the commentators attribute it to adultery by hand or to the accessories of the darziha. No one explains this from the law and the preservation of your souls or the preservation of your health.
Cain was also supposed to understand that it is forbidden to murder before there was a command. The assumption is that prohibitions on certain acts are self-evident. The source cited for this is not always the real source. Sometimes it is a vague reference. There is no one among the enumerators of the commandments who specifically enumerated this, and therefore it is likely that they did not see this as a prohibition with a clear source.
Beyond that, even if Onan was not supposed to know this, the Torah's description of the matter is the source, even if Onan himself is not. Just as there are those who learn not to marry the younger sister before the older one because they did not do so in Laban's place. And is Laban a halakhic source? The Torah's description gave them the understanding that the Torah itself sees this as a correct principle.
But today it is clear to us that a baby is not inside the semen and only a very, very small portion of the thousands of sperm that come out is actually good for having children. So does a man who has sex with his wife pass on semen for nothing? Of course not.
I'm not saying they necessarily forbade it for medical reasons, but they may have had their own agenda. And from reviewing the verses again, I still come to the conclusion that God was angry with Onan purely because he did not establish seed for his brother and it has nothing to do with the outpouring itself.
But I still ask, if somehow a Sanhedrin were to be established right now, could we allow this prohibition? After all, if the Sages arrived at this from a certain understanding, we can arrive at an understanding opposite to that of the Sages.
Well, I explained what I had to say. The question is, can the Sanhedrin today change this? Of course. It can change everything. It can decide that there are ten artisans or 108. Whatever they see fit. The question of whether they will actually do so is another question.
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