Translation:Shulchan Aruch/Even ha-Ezer/23

Prohibitions against spilling one’s seed needlessly and things that cause this to happen
(Contains 7 paragraphs)

Paragraph 1- Releasing sperm wastefully is forbidden; no sin in the Torah is more serious than this. Therefore, a man should not thrust inside his wife and then ejaculate outside of her. A man should not marry a minor who is not yet fit to bear children.

Paragraph 2- Those who use their hands to release sperm not only commit a major transgression but also will incur a ban of ostracism. It is said of them, Your hands are full of blood [Isaiah 1:15]. It is as if they had killed a person.

Paragraph 3- A man is forbidden to intentionally cause himself to have an erection or to have [sexual] thoughts. If such thoughts come to him, he is to direct his mind away from matters of foolishness and toward the words of the Torah, which are a loving deer and a graceful doe [Prov. 5:19]. A man is thus forbidden from sleeping on his back with his face upward, but must tilt slightly to one side so that he does not get an erection. A man is not to look at domestic animals, wild beasts or fowl when they are mating. However, an animal breeder is permitted to insert the male organ into the female because he is focused on his work and will not have [sexual] thoughts.

Paragraph 4- An unmarried man is forbidden from putting his hand on his genitals, lest this lead him to [sexual] thoughts. He should not extend his hand below his navel, lest he be led to [sexual] thoughts. When urinating, he must not hold the shaft of his penis, but if he is married then this is allowed. Whether he is married or not, he must not put his hand to his penis at all except when he needs to urinate (see Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 3).

Paragraph 5- If a woman has a blockage in her womb, causing her husband to ejaculate outside of her body, he is prohibited from having sexual relations with her. One may have sexual relations with a minor or a woman who cannot have children, however, because he is having relations in the ordinary course.

Paragraph 6- It is forbidden to ride on an animal without a saddle. In the Gemara Chapter of “Kol Hayad” the Gemara implies that it is forbidden to wear pants unless they are made like socks because it may lead to wasting seed. Although it is possible to refute the proof by saying the Gemara was only referring to those times where they ate teruma and there was a concern of their body becoming impure, from the fact that the Rosh brings this law in his rulings, the implication is that the restriction even applies today. That which we have the practice to allow it in a bathhouse might be because they did not prohibit wearing it for such a short time. That is what appears correct to me. The Gemara further prohibits one from bathing with his father, brother, step-father or sister’s husband. Today the custom is to allow it because people’s private parts are covered in the bathhouse so there is no concern of illicit thoughts.

Paragraph 7-One the earlier pious ones and great Torah scholars would take pride that he never gazed at his private part. One of them also took pride that he never thought about his wife’s figure because he diverted his attention away from all valueless things to words of truth which grasp the hearts of the holy.