FSTDT

Tzvi Fishman #fundie jewishsexuality.com

On a national level, our ability to conquer and settle all of the Biblical borders of the Land of Israel, depends on the holiness with which we lead our lives, both for soldiers in the Israeli army, and civilians in their private lives. This is the key to victory. By guarding our holiness, the Shechinah (Divine Presence) stays with us, fighting our battles alongside our soldiers and tanks.

To ensure the day-to-day holiness of the Jewish People, the Torah and its Sages set forth guidelines to prevent a man from succuming to the temptations that can easily cause him to err. In addition to the prohibition of gazing at erotic images, Jewish Law demands that a man exert special care to distance himself from interaction with women (Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer, 21:1).

Tzvi Fishman #fundie jewishsexuality.com

The Hebrew word for semen is zera, which means seed. This seed contains not only the physical and spiritual blueprints of life, but also the life force itself. Each discharge of semen contains hundreds of thousands, even millions, of souls.

Each microscopic drop is more than a potential life. It is already a living soul. For this reason, the sin of spilling semen in vain is considered like the spilling of blood - like taking the life of a person. Not just the life of any person, but the life of the child who commits the sin (Niddah 13A; Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer, 23:2).

Every drop of semen is your child.

Kabbalistic sources explain that with each drop of semen, a soul is brought into the world. When this occurs in a manner forbidden by Jewish Law, the soul is taken captive by the forces of impurity - the kelipot, or husks, of the Sitra Achra, the "Other Side." Thus the holy life force contained in these souls is captured by the realm of evil, strengthening the power of evil in the world. In their anguish at being taken captive amongst the husks, these kidnapped souls return to haunt the man who gave birth to them, inevitably causing him a gamut of troubles, sometimes sickness, sometimes depression, sometimes poverty, marital strife, problems with children, and a long list of other tragedies.

Tzvi Fishman #fundie jewishsexuality.com

THE IMPURITY OF NIDDAH

It is important to note that all unmarried women are considered to be in a state of menstrual impurity. The impurity of "niddah" (menstrual impurity) is one of the severest forms of spiritual uncleanness. The punishment for having relations with a woman considered niddah is "karet," dying before one's time. Because of the great strength of niddah impurity, a man does not only become impure through having sexual relations with her, but also through intimacies like hugging and kissing.

Tzvi Fishman #fundie jewishsexuality.com

[A psychologist, criticizing Tzvi Fishman's anti-masturbation writings, asks, "Can you please answer a simply question, how many people do you know who's teeth have fallen out because they masturbate regularly?"]

Yes, I know many people who have false teeth and dentures. I also am perfectly comfortable with the Rambam's explanation that it is due to sexual transgression.

As far as your theory: 'Actually in my experience it is the religious guilt regarding sexuality that causes turmoil rather than the sexuality itself," Freud said the same thing. Not only did his teeth fall out, he developed cancer of the mouth, G-d forbid, had to undergo some 30 painful operations, and finally asked his doctor to administer a lethal dose of morphine to put him out of his pain.

Nothing positive will come out of letting people think that masturbation and other sexual transgression is a small matter. In his book, “Orot HaTshuva,” Rabbi Kook explains that the sufferings of anxiety and depression that many people feel (what you call religious guilt) are the sufferings of the soul which is afflicted with sin, cutting the person off from G-d and alienating him from the harmony of existence.

In the case of masturbation, Kabbalists explain this torment as deriving from destructive spiritual forces (kelipot) caused by the sin, which attach themselves to a person and plague him like a radioactive cloud.