We learned in the past that a Kohen with over 30 days growth of hair could not do the avodah.
1.Question, 30 days starting when? Now we see that if he has trouble focusing his eyes he is also pasul, 2. can a Kohen wear glasses for avodah or duchening?3. if he has one long eyebrow over both eyes may he pluck the middle or is that "beged eshah"
4. Withholding urine is dangerous, as stated, medical science has found that witholding sperm can lead to prostate cancer. is there a solution to that problem?
Thank you most kindly. This is my first correspondence with you and I hope putting four questions on one request is in order. If not please advise.
Chaim Kessler, Bnai Brak, Israel
We will answer two of your questions now, and we will address your other questions later.
2. As Rabbi Kornfeld wrote in response to a question in Zevachim (19a), perhaps the Isur of wearing extra Begadim applies only to items that are in the category of "Begadim," which would not include glasses. That is, a Beged is something that passively serves the body, keeping it warm and protecting it from harm. (In addition, a Beged may also have therapeutic properties, such as a Gemi.) Eyeglasses, however, do not serve the body passively. Rather, the wearer uses them actively by constantly peering through them and putting them in the way of the light that reaches his eyes, to correct his vision. It is simply a tool and not a piece of clothing, and it will not constitute Yitur Begadim.
(This, of course, does not affect the definition of "Beged" with regard to Shabbos. For Shabbos, anything that is draped around the body in a manner comparative to clothing may be worn on Shabbos. It makes no difference whether or not it is a Beged ; it only makes a difference whether or not it is being worn .)
4. "Medical science" has not found what you state that it has found, with the exception of unsubstantiated assertions of holistic medical practioners, and a single article that appeared in the April 2004 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association by an epidemiologist at the University of California at San Francisco. An article with apparently contradictory conclusions was published in the London Times, quoting the study of an oncologist at London's Institute of Cancer Research, published in the medical journal, The Lancet Oncology.
Thus, abstinence is not a "problem." Moreover, those who follow the word of Hash-m will not come to harm as a result, whether they are exersizing abstinence for the sake of a Mitzvah, or exersizing the engagement in intimate activity for the sake of a Mitzvah.
Y. Shaw