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285: SINNING AS A MEANS
OF PREVENTING
DEPRESSION,
TENSION AND
SEVERE EMOTIONAL
D E T E R I O R AT I O N

ɳ Question

The patient in question is a single young man, thirty one years old,
who was born in the former Soviet Union. He has been hospitalized
in our institution a number of times and was recently discharged. He
engages in masturbation, which he claims helps him relieve emotional
tension, and which he finds greatly calming. For the sake of his emo-
tional health it is very important to avoid his becoming tense, thereby
preventing deterioration of his situation and severe worsening of his
mood which is liable to endanger him. Is this [aberrant conduct]
permitted or not?

Dr. N. Hausfeter, Medical Center for
Mental Health, Acco

We shall preface our respone to this question with discussion of an-
other question [henceforth: Question Two] that was debated in the
past, concerning an incident that took place during World War I,1 as
follows:

1. I have presented the question as I heard it from Rabbi Yitzchak Chacham z”l,
Chairman of the Great Synagogue in Holon, who was a scholar and distin-

Sinning to Relieve Tension 2 427