Hello. Once again we are in chapter six of the book Brit Shalom, dealing with matters of the family. Here we arrive at the prohibitions of forbidden sexual relations (arayot).
Here we are speaking about explicit prohibitions, not merely recommendations as we have seen until now. There is a list of forbidden sexual relations—meaning intimate relationships that the Torah explicitly forbids to all human beings, including the descendants of Noah.
The descendants of Noah are prohibited from engaging in the sexual relations listed below and are punished for them. That is, what is explicitly stated as a prohibition is also subject to punishment by a court of law.
What are these prohibitions?
First: one’s mother. A person is forbidden to have sexual relations with his mother. Although psychoanalysis speaks about the Oedipus complex, in which a man is said to desire his mother, this is strictly forbidden.
Second: his father’s wife, even if she is not his mother, and even after his father’s death. For example, if a man’s father married another woman after being widowed—would that woman be permitted to the son? The answer is no; it is also forbidden.
Even more obvious is a married woman. A person is forbidden to have sexual relations with the wife of another man while she is married to him. This is self-evident.
Also forbidden is his sister born from his mother. There are two types of sisters—one from the father and one from the mother—and both are among the severe prohibitions.
There are also other prohibitions that today may not always be clear: relations between males, and relations with animals. That is, sexual relations between a male and another male, or between a human male and animals—these are severe prohibitions.
In addition, there are further laws concerning additional prohibitions that a person is obligated to observe, or at least it is fitting to conduct oneself according to them. We will discuss these next time.
