Thursday, January 08, 2009

This Must Be The Stupidest Tznius Story I've Ever Heard

From a Chabadtalk thread:

Well mcp, just for the record, a few years ago I was driving and I almost crashed because I was driving with my eyes closed, only because I tried to avoid seeing a couple of young women who were very poorly dressed...

I find it extremely interesting. Of course, one is required to be martyred rather than engage in prohibited sexual relations. The gemara even takes it to an extreme where they prohibited a dying man from hearing a married woman's voice. But, in that instance, there was no danger to anyone except the potential sinner. And yet, this guy knows better*... because he's not only willing to risk his own life by closing his eyes while driving, but he's also willing to risk the lives of his passengers and anyone else on the road.

Talk about being a tzaddik on yenem's cheshbon (someone else's account)!

The Wolf

* Actually, he doesn't know better. The halacha is that while you are required to die rather than sin sexually, you are not required (or permitted) to kill someone to prevent them from sinning sexually. If this applies to someone who is actually sinning, it certainly applies to someone who is an innocent passenger in a car or walking or driving on the road. Or that's my take on the matter. However, I'm not a rav. If anyone knows otherwise, please feel free to say so.

Hat tip: OnionSoupMix

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

"they prohibited a dying man from hearing a married woman's voice."

Where does it say that?

Mikeinmidwood said...

Anon

It wasnt a married woman, she just didnt want to talk to him.

I think I should poke out my eyes, in fact G-d is wrong for giving me eyes, i might come to see someones ankle. Dying to not see is just a kulah, you got to kill the untznius person too, You ask about halacha, Tznius is a halacha. ;)

Anonymous said...

This is an interesting concept, that thinking of women sexually is inherently evil. We all have it drilled into us in yeshivah and most probably take it for granted. Really though, why is this bad. ACTING on such thoughts would be bad in many situations, but the thought itself? And it can't be argued that the though will lead to the action, because most men look at women, and almost none will assault a random stranger simply because she's wearing a low-cut blouse and a miniskirt.

I was on the train once and saw a women changing (yes, on the train) into dressier clothes. And I noticed that every guy in the car was watching her. None of them even said anything to her, let alone tried to rape her. Yet I'd be willing to bet all of them were thinking about her as a sexual being.

On another note, I wonder if anyone has ever conducted a study to see if blind men think about women less often that sighted men.

G*3

zdub said...

This Joey guy sounds like a troll.

The Rashblog said...

I hate self-promoting, but on the topic of ridiculous tznius stories, I think you might find this interesting:


http://tinyurl.com/a2hnvd

Anonymous said...

thanks for updating the definition of chassid shoteh :-)

KT
Joel Rich

Eliezer StrongBad said...

The gemara in Sotah does talk about certain people who are "mavleh es ha'olam" (destroyers of the world); one such example is the case of a man, who in his hesitance to see women while he is walking in the street, walks with his head down and, as a result, walks into walls and causes his head to bleed.

Jeff Eyges said...

Wolf, I followed that link and couldn't find the quote in question.

BrooklynWolf said...

I see that. It looks like the thread was edited. My response is missing as well.

The Wolf

Anonymous said...

I highly doubt that the story posted to ChabadTalk actually happened.

Anyone can post any idiotic story, but after being on there are few times, I don't beleive that anyone who posts there is capable of doing that.

Jeff Eyges said...

Anyone can post any idiotic story, but after being on there are few times, I don't beleive that anyone who posts there is capable of doing that.

Capable of doing what - driving blind, or posting an idiotic story?