Moshe Zemer SUMMARY

This brief statement of my late beloved teacher Justice Haim Cohn very aptly sums up the Jewish view of sex:“The Jewish attitude to sex, then, shows a certain apparent ambivalence or, more correctly, a balance between extremes. It insists on a stern discipline of moral restraints and yet avoids excessive prudery or asceticism. On the one hand, Judaism regards moderation and self-control in sex as the essence of‘holiness’(Lev. 19:2 and commentaries), condemning unchaste conduct as among the most heinous offences against God and society, and, on the other hand, it rejects the notion of considering the sex instinct as intrinsically sinful or shameful. The sex drive should be sublimated rather than suppressed, for“were it not for the evil inclination, no man would build a home and marry”(Gen. R. 9:7). Indeed, to the rabbis, who frowned on celibacy, it was this instinct that completed the creation of the world and caused God to pronounce His work“very good”(Gen. Rabbah).

Notes

1. Yad, Issurei Bi'ah, 22:18.

2. Nu. 10.11.

3. Rashi, ad loc., who uses the interpretation of Sifre ad loc., indicating that the duplication of“families” renders this meaning by means of the gezeira shava rule. See Moses Mielziner , Introduction to the Talmud,(New York: Bloch Publishing Co., 1902, 1925), pp. 143ff. and Hermann Strack , Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash(Philadelphia : JPS Press, 1942). 4. Sanhedrin.

5S. Moed Katan 17a.

. Rashi, ad loc.