עברית
Faith
Regarding Emission of Seed in Futility
Question
Hello, from what I have read, emitting seed in futility is considered one of the gravest sins in the Torah, punishable by death. As far as I know, most people commit this transgression and not just once. How is it that no one dies from this? If most people do it, does that mean most people are denying and should die? When I try to think logically, it seems that there are many things that appear much worse but are not treated this way.
Answer
With the help of Heaven. Peace and blessings, Most people are not punished in this world, but rather in the World to Come. Otherwise, if Divine providence were obvious and simple, no one would dare to sin at all, and there would be no choice between good and evil. Regarding the matter itself, This is not a straightforward murder, otherwise the punishment would be death by one of the four death penalties administered by the court, or at least kareth (spiritual excision) from the Torah. Rather, it means that damaging the covenant bears a severe aspect of killing, since it damages the seed and kills the potential for life, for the ultimate purpose of the act is to unite with one's wife and bring children into the world. Here, one damages the value of life and transforms the act from a spiritual act to a material one, from creation for the sake of Heaven to physical and selfish pleasure. Hence the act is called "emission of seed in futility"—the futility is the transgression. Similarly, our sages said that anger is as if one worships idolatry, meaning that anger contains an aspect of idolatry because one believes there is a force in the world other than Hashem, and therefore one becomes angry. The Gemara (Shabbat 156b) states: "And it was taught: He who tears his garments in anger, breaks his vessels in anger, and scatters money in anger—behold, in your eyes, he is like one who worships idolatry, for such is the custom of the evil inclination: today it tells him to do this, tomorrow it tells him to do so, until it ultimately tells him to worship idolatry and he goes and worships it. Rabbi Avin said: What verse did it read? (Psalms 81:10) 'There shall not be among you a foreign god, neither shall you worship a strange god.' What is a foreign god that resides within a person? It means the evil inclination." We have come into this world to refine bad character traits and fulfill Torah and mitzvot. Emission of seed in futility and looking at immodest places is a more severe transgression than others, since it concentrates man’s strong desire within himself (the complete opposite of the sacred goal of marital purity), and this selfishness increases his attraction to materialism far more than other transgressions. Blessings, Daniel Bales
