An interesting thought crossed my mind: does shomer negiah specifically only relate to direct, physical contact, or does it additionally extend to cover cases where there is no direct touch?
Though I'd never use this in real life, is poking someone's covered shoulder with a gloved hand in any way violate shomer negiah, as there's no physical skin-on-skin contact involved?
It would seem that this would be assur, but would it be?
Answer
Interestingly, someone just ask Rav Aviner this same question (well not exactly) earlier this month.
Prohibition against Touching Opposite Gender
Q: Does the prohibition against touching someone of the opposite gender only apply to their actual body, or does it also apply to touching them through their clothing?
A: Both are certainly forbidden! One should stay extremely far away from the opposite gender. Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 152:8-10. How the evil inclination is working overtime!
However, when I was younger, I had a friend who had her "shomer nagiah stick" which she kept in her purse. (though it was really a just a straw) This stick was used for hitting boys who said obnoxious comments, and for poking people to get their attention.
Now, what I really find interesting about R. Aviner's answer, is that he does not cite a source which says that touching through a glove and clothing is actually an issur, but just says to stay away from women in general.
This seems to me to fall under the category of "not shabbostik", but instead of referring to shabbos, referring to shomer nagiah.
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