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It is apparently preferable to emit the semen by masturbation de-
spite this being a Torah prohibition, rather than having intercourse
with the bride who has had virginal bleeding, which is only forbidden
by rabbinic prohibition. There are nevertheless several reasons why
masturbation is less severe: 1. by masturbating only he commits a sin,
not his wife, whereas by having intercourse with the bride who has
had virginal bleeding they are both violating a prohibition; 2. in this
situation where the semen is being emitted for therapeutic purposes
it is not considered emitting semen for naught. This is not wasteful
because he must emit it and may not restrain himself because doing
so involves danger, so it is not prohibited at all.

The Chassid Yaavetz writes (in the Siddur Beis Yaakov, end of
Hanhagas Haboker): “If a person has an unintentional erection or if
this happened in his sleep and he cannot contain the semen without
endangering himself, he is neither obligated nor according to halachah
is he allowed to endanger himself, as happened to one person who
restrained himself and held his organ while drawing the semen in-
wards, who died. However, if he brought this about intentionally, he
must endanger himself [to avoid spilling the semen].1

The question arises, how is it possible that if he sinned on pur-
pose and stimulated an erection sinfully he must endanger his life so
that the semen doesn’t spill out for naught? Does the Torah expect a
sinner to pay [for his sin] with his life? Consider: If a person sinned
intentionally by affixing dough to the oven wall on Shabbos, would he
be expected to endanger his life in order to remove the bread before
it bakes in order to avoid sinning? It is clear that right now he must
repent by regretting what he did and undertaking not to repeat it in
the future but his obligations do not include endangering himself by

1. I asked Dr. Y. Chen what could have caused the death of the individual who
drew his semen inwards. He responded, “He woke up in the night with a full
erection and in order to avoid the sin of wasteful emission of semen he tried to
hold back the semen forcefully. It’s possible that he broke his organ as a result of
the pressure he put on it, tearing its outer sheath which led to massive bleeding
that caused his death. Another possibility is that the enormous pain resulting
from breaking the organ stopped his heart, leading to his death.”

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