Q&A: Watching Reality TV Close to the Sabbath
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Watching Reality TV Close to the Sabbath
Question
Hello,
Is it permitted to watch Big Brother close to the onset of the Sabbath when women there are lighting Sabbath candles and there may perhaps be benefit from Sabbath desecration (they have microphones on them and the like)? That is, I still have not yet accepted the Sabbath, but some of the people there already have.
Thank you
Answer
It is forbidden to watch Big Brother even on a weekday.
Discussion on Answer
Not because of modesty, but because it’s trash. The prohibition is not halakhic / of Jewish law (I don’t know the program well enough to determine that), but human.
From the standpoint of modesty? Isn’t it just looking, and if there is clearly immodest content you can simply lower your eyes, no?