1,053. Wasteful Emission of Seed
Because of the public nature of these posts, we are omitting some of the more graphic details of this chapter. HaShoneh Halachos encourages interested readers to review these laws more fully in the original sources.
150:17 When a person emits too much sperm, he wears out his body more quickly. A person who is constantly having sex ages and weakens himself. (The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch enumerates a list of symptoms.) The wisest doctors (of his day) said that one out of a thousand dies from other diseases while the rest die from too much sex. (Editor's note: it is doubtful that this medical maxim was intended literally even in the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch's day.)
151:1 A man is not permitted to wastefully emit semen; this is a very serious transgression. (Iggros Moshe 3:14 says that while it is indeed a strict prohibition, the claim that it is worse than all the sins in the Torah is an overstatement.) Regarding those who transgress this prohibition, Isaiah 1:15 says their "hands are full of blood" as they have wasted the potential for life. Rashi on Genesis 38:7 explains that Er and Onan died because of this sin.
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