Prohibition of Masturbation and Impurity of Nocturnal Emission
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Question
Hello, dear Rabbi, I wanted to ask: if it is forbidden by the Torah to masturbate, why is there impurity from nocturnal emission? Is there an explanation for this? Thank you very much in advance.
Answer
Hello and Happy Hanukkah
A. It is strictly forbidden to waste seed. There is a heavenly death penalty for this. It is considered as shedding blood and as idolatry.
B. The impurity of nocturnal emission usually comes from forbidden thoughts during the day.
Source
(Niddah 13.) Anyone who wastes seed is liable to the death penalty, as it is said: "And it was evil in the eyes of the Lord, and He killed him." Rabbi Yitzchak and Rabbi Ami say it is like shedding blood, as it is said: "Comforting under trees, under every green tree, slaughtering children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks." Do not read "slaughtering" but "squeezing." Rabbi Assi says it is like idolatry, as it is written here: "under every green tree," and as it is written there: "on the high mountains and under every green tree."
(Ketubot 46.)
And guard yourself from every evil thing, from here Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair said: Let a person not think during the day and come to impurity at night.