Can porn save shabbos?

Hey Hesh,

I have an interesting situation I thought I’d share with you. A friend of mine recently admitted to me that he breaks shabbos to look at porn on the internet. I was a bit shocked that someone could be so addicted to porn that he would break shabbos to fill his needs, but I looked around the web and apparently this addiction is no joke. I remember a few months ago when you wrote about how frum Jews were keeping the print porn industry alive and I was wondering if you think that it would be muttar to buy my friend porn magazines so that he doesn’t break shabbos.

I actually asked him why he hadn’t thought of it and he told me that he’s not sure that he can “get it up” for pictures anymore. Apparently he’s spent so many years watching internet porn that he’s desensitized to the old fashioned stuff we used to smuggle around yeshiva together.

Porn saves shabbos…

Dear Porn debate guy,

I hate to say it, but I would give you a heter just to try out your theory. Regardless, your friend is going to watch porn throughout the week, but it is our responsibility to keep his shabbos holy. Just because some Jews consider porn to lead to genocide, doesn’t mean it’s true. However, we do know that breaking shabbos is a definite death penalty and an underlying reason why many Jews marry out. When’s the last time watching porn caused Jews to marry goyim?

One may also argue that if he even looks at the magazine on shabbos, he has saved his shabbos for one second. That one second of shabbos being saved from internet usage may be worth infinite mitzvos, but we shall never know the true reward.

The fact is that porn can save shabbos.

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