Q&A: On the Parameters of "Not Possible" and "Not Intended"
On the Parameters of "Not Possible" and "Not Intended"
Question
The permission to watch movies and plays even if they are not all that modest is based on the principle of "not possible" and "not intended." I wanted to ask: where exactly is the boundary? That is, if a person really needs to go to the beach and the only beach available is a mixed beach, is he allowed to go? Or, alternatively, if he has the option to study at University X, where the level of modesty is low but the academic level is high, versus University Y, where the academic level is somewhat lower but the level of modesty is higher? In short, what is the definition of "not possible"?
Answer
It is hard to draw a clear line. If you have a permitted goal, and on the way you are unavoidably forced to pass through a forbidden situation, that is permitted. If you are going to a mixed beach, one has to consider whether that itself is a permitted goal and the prohibition is only something encountered along the way, or whether the goal itself is forbidden. Perhaps it is like going to a pornographic movie, which is forbidden. I am not saying it is the same thing, only that the line is not sharp.
I think the level of modesty at a university does not rise to the level of prohibition and permission. There the consideration is not one of Jewish law.