who cares? Personally, I'd care about throwing away money...just me, though... ;D

not a good idea at all. as its completly ossur to give them money, and u will probably realize that, and so ur incentive will disappear

I'm glad this post got you all riled up ... that was kind of the point.

Despite the daily chizuk emails, internet filters, accountability software, mikvah, heartful davening, tears and rational investigation into this addiction, I have very little to show in the way of progress.  I became addicted to internet shmutz about ten years ago and have been trying to quit for about six years.  My best period of sobriety was a bit under two months.  Besides that, I have been in a  pattern of slipping once a week, on average.  

The truth is I am very comfortable with my lifestyle.  I daven, work full time, study Torah, have a great social life ... while habitually drowning myself in the most vile filth.

The reasons for stopping have seemed abstract to me.  I know what the Torah says about guarding the eyes.  My addiction doesn't care.  It tells me, "you can make teshuva later".  

So now I have this wager hanging over me.  The notion of obligating myself to donate $500 to the most vile scum will make me think twice before slipping back into my "comfort zone".  $500 is a lot of money to me right now.

I will be complete honest and honor this wager whether I win or lose.

If I lose cv"s, I know that I've done all I can on my own, and it is time to seek professional help.

If I win (please G-d), then perhaps others will find this type of technique to be of value.

If you have to rely on this, might be a good time to consider other steps, anyway - professional help is always a good thing (make sure you go to someone good, though), but for starters, join us - post, read, etc, read the handbooks, and see if you can apply any of it...

I do hope that you win your wager, especially since...if not, you can't give it anyway. Or you're funding jews getting killed. Kinda stuck either way.

The yetzer hora likes your wager, I suspect...

yeh keep in mind that a suicide vest costs less than that. So if they decide to save on advertising and overhead, and simply funnel your money to buy a vest....... many jews could CV be maimed for life, families shattered and forced into poverty. Bacause you bought that vest. Definitely find a different, but still vile option.

blessed wrote on 11 Jan 2010 22:53:
(My apologies in advance...) It's actually quite obvious that your therapist is a "very frum man" because only a "very frum man" could possibly not know what an internet addiction is. If he would realize the depth of it, and how strong it is, he would realize how easily money could end up being given to Hamas from such a promise.
Besides, that still doesn't make it mutar, he's not a posek.

This wager is a terrible idea.

But I can't help on some level finding it rather amusing.

I have a feeling that even if you do c"v fall in that time that you still won't donate 500 big ones to [moderator's note: reference to hate site removed].

Well don't tell him that NOW, wait till after, so he can ask a shaila and find out he can give it to GUE.
Otherwise he'll lose his incentive...

Yeah, good idea.

I can't imagine the halacha of following through with an oath overriding that of contributing to anti-semitic org's. Most likely it wouldn't be deemed to be a proper oath in the first place.

Yeah, SA said before that it's "masneh al mah shekasuv batorah".
He's probably right.

yes but you need someone who learnt the sugya to tell you that it applies to a grama, since his money is not actualy the bullet. Additionaly the shaila applies as to whether you can use the sevara of ain shliach lidvar aveira, in as much as saying that the neder itself was not on a ma'aseh avaira. And even if you say that it's lifnei Iver, since their budget DOES also cover their overhead, it may only be masneh al issur dirabanan ( if that makes a differance). 

chizkiyahu wrote on 11 Jan 2010 23:01:


You don't make that kind of wager to make you "think twice."  You can only justify making such a wager if it will cause you to think 1,000 times before doing anything that can possibly cause you to lose.

There is actually precedent for what you're trying to do, and why it’s wrong.  Reuven said to Yaakov Avinu: "Two of my sons should die if I don't bring back Binyamin."  Yaakov should have said "Wonderful - I see you're going to be very serious about protecting Binyamin."  Instead, Yaakov's reaction was, "Fool - do you think I want my own grandchildren to die?"  In other words, "I don't care if this will serve as a powerful incentive, you still can't take such a risk!"  I think it's reasonable to assume that the Halacha is like Yaakov, not like Reuven.

nice mekor!!!

hey can anyone submit the shaila to R yitzchak Zilbershtein??????  pls, i want to hear his take on this, oh any breif him on this website. i will be awsome to hear him say it!!!

I've heard of addicts vowing to rip up $100 and flush it down the toilet each time they acted out. 

After a few times, they either managed to stop cold turkey, or they needed professional help.

guardureyes wrote on 12 Jan 2010 15:55:
So your saying this is a good idea, or that he should just rip it up and flush it instead?