“Don't come in! I'm, uh... I was just… brushing my teeth!”

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“Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.”
-- Leviticus 19:17

There is a phrase in Hebrew: Halbanat ha-Panim, which literally means “whitening the face”— i.e., causing someone to blanch by public embarrassment.

Rabbis from 2000 years ago even said embarrassing someone is considered the equivalent of murder!

Let’s not get too excited. After all, according to Maimonides, the great 12th century Jewish philosopher, pleasuring oneself is also considered the equivalent of killing someone (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Issurei Biya 21:18).

Jesus on Jalopy!

“Marge, EVERYTHING is a sin. You ever sat down and read this thing?
[holds up a bible]
Technically, we're not allowed to go to the bathroom!”
--Reverand Lovejoy

(“The Simpsons”, written by Greg Daniels, Season 5, airdate 5/19/94)


If you’ll recall my previous entry, I discussed ch.38 of Genesis, Onan and how he wasn’t … “Master of his domain,” and how traditional Judea-Christian theologies vilify self-gratification.

Even if you believe that, according to the above source—
embarrassing someone is just as awful as... um… playing one man tug of war.

The Talmud even says, "It is better to throw oneself into a burning furnace than to embarrass someone in public."
Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, Keser Rosh (Siddur Hagra), 143.

This is ironic, since (in the Onan story) Judah was ready to do that to his daughter-in-law, Tamar, after her husband pleasured himself—
Judah says, “Bring her forth and let her be burnt”(Gen. 38:24).

Now, back to Leviticus 19:17-- keep in mind this immediately precedes the verse that mentions “Love thy neighbor as thyself”—so we can assume this is a pretty crucial decree, mentioned in the same grouping with the Golden Rule, itself.

The end of the verse says
“…thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.”

In the Hebrew Bible, the end of the verse is “and do not sin through him.” We are taught
'Do not sin through him' means by embarrassing him publicly (Arkhin 16b; Sefer HaMitzvoth). This is also a general commandment not to embarrass a person publicly (Ibid.).

Ironic, since most of our MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENTS involve another person catching us whilst in the act of self-gratification.

I can only speak for my gender here, but…
Every guy has a story— every guy has been walked in on. While lost in a reverie of naughty salaciousness, happily bending to the will of the one-eyed warrior, without warning that door swings open—
OH NO!
Embarrassment Galore!

In that situation, I beg of you—
leave, close the door behind you, never speak of it again and forget you saw anything… okay, Grandma?

Ha ha, I’m just kidding

… she has cataracts, there’s no way she saw.


I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again—
Pobody’s Nerfect.

Even if you don’t take part in self-gratification,
Everyone gets embarrassed.

We’ve all been there—
you feel ashamed, your cheeks flush, the blood rushes to your head, you sweat, close your eyes and wish there were a hole you could get into…

Meanwhile, getting embarrassed is awful!
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