Ruthie Blum interviews former Hollywood screenwriter turned currently brainwashed BT Tzvi Fishman about his affiliation with haredi pseudo-kabbalist Rabbi Eliahu Leon Levi. In the interview, Fishman cites the Zohar as if it were a real text with unquestioned authenticity and not what most scholars (including some Orthodox rabbis, BTW) consider a medieval forgery. He uses the Zohar as the main 'source' for his highly restrictive understanding of sexual issues and modesty:
…RB: Why is [masturbation] considered such a transgression?
TF: Because the seminal fluid contains souls. Everybody has a soul, and that soul originates in the semen. Masturbation wastes those souls, by causing them to get scattered in the world, without the ability to find a proper home.…
RB: Do you think that maybe God isn't being a little cruel to man by creating him as an extremely lustful being, and then putting all kinds of restraints and punishments on him for that? People experience all kinds of appetites, among them hunger. Yet, the only constraint for Jews is that their food must be kosher. Imagine if God made us hungry, yet forced us not to eat at all for long periods of time. Not even look at food. In other words, why treat natural instincts as though they are impure?
TF: I wouldn't use the word "cruel" - but it's certainly a test. There are a lot of tests in life.…For thousands of years, Jewish people married very early. That was one way of dealing with the problem. In our times, when marriage is postponed, a great many problems arise.
RB: Would it be better to return to marrying earlier? After all, we are all biologically mature enough to have children at the age of about 13.
TF: Well, I don't necessarily think we have to return to the practice of getting married at age 13, but certainly boys and girls are ready physically and mentally to get married by the time they're 20 or 21. In the haredi world, they still get married at around 18-19.…
[What about all those souls 'lost' through masturbation before the age of 18? – Shmarya.]
RB: You mentioned King David. It says specifically both in the Bible and in the Psalms that right after his mishap with Batsheva, King David was punished. Their first child died and David was stricken with terrible diseases. He was bedridden. And he knew it was from transgression. Rabbi Levi said that if he had been on the rabbinical court at the time, he wouldn't have punished King David, because he was put through too great a test for any man. The story is that Batsheva was bathing on the rooftop when a wind came and blew off the curtain around her. That is what aroused his lust. Rabbi Levi says that a superman wouldn't have been able to withstand that, and that Batsheva should have been more careful to make sure that the sheet was secure against the wind.
TF: This is not to say that women today are to blame.…
Yet, in his answer to the previous question, Fishman said:
So, a woman who dresses provocatively to attract a man's attention - knowing that men have lustful reactions when they see an attractive woman - is leading him to have fantasies. Then, when he goes home and has relations with his wife, he might fantasize about this other woman, and that cheapens his relationship with his wife. The other woman, then, is directly bringing about that problem.
And then, this:
RB: You say many great men have been punished for their lust. Yet, just as many have suffered, in spite of obeying God's laws.
TF: Look, that's a major philosophical discussion that is too complex to get into here. But when a good person suffers, it's not a punishment. The suffering has come to elevate him to a higher spiritual level.
What a presumptuous fool. There's much more in the interview, things like never seeing your wife naked, only having sex in utter darkness, and the like. If you're a new BT and you (God knows why) want to stick with Orthodoxy, understand that Fishman is quoting some of the most restrictive views available. Jewish law is much more flexible than Fishman lets on – or, perhaps, than Fishman knows.