Faith
An Unmarried Woman Living in a City
Question
Greetings and blessings. Does the statement "An unmarried man who lives in a city and does not sin is praised by Hashem every day" also apply to an unmarried woman who lives in a city and does not sin? I understood that for a man, the condition is not only not being with a woman, but also not to emit seed in vain, and to succeed in standing up to the test in a place where there are temptations of this kind. What is the condition for Hashem to be praised over that path in the case of an unmarried woman living in a city? After all, she does not emit seed in vain, so is it enough that she guards herself physically and does not go with any man for this to be considered that she does not sin? If she is a virgin, but does not observe physical boundaries? Does this speak only of an unmarried man or woman who are guarded and who never sinned in this way before? Or does repentance and a fresh start count? Is a small town considered a city today as well? Thank you very much!
Answer
To the questioner,
Sorry for the delay in responding.
From the Gemara in Pesachim 113a-b, it seems that the intention is one who is in a place of constant daily temptation to sin through immorality.
Therefore, it would seem that a woman who is in such a situation also has this merit each day she does so, and even if she is a baalat teshuvah, nonetheless each day now, when she stands up to the test, she has reward. And if in a small town temptation occurs for her every day, then it is in this respect comparable to a city. But if she violates physical boundaries, which is a prohibition by Torah law, it does not appear that she is included among those over whom Hashem is praised, since she is not at all comparable to the example cited there in the Gemara of Rav Chanina and Rav Oshaya, who did not even raise their eyes.
But in practice, all this Gemara does not apply to us, for Rav has already taught us, and we follow him in matters of prohibition, in Sanhedrin 107a: "Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: A person should never bring himself into a test, for David, king of Israel, brought himself into a test and failed." Thus, it is forbidden for a person in practice to do this and place himself where he lives with a daily test set before his eyes.
With blessings,
Rav Nachum
