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.

47 comments

Confused?

So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!

To post a comment, you'll need to Sign in or Register. Making an account also allows you to claim credit for submitting quotes, and to vote on quotes and comments. You don't even need to give us your email address.