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preferred to die instead of his patient. It is clear that this physician 1 AnsweR
will not repeat his sin, and it is not proper to publicize his error since
he is defined as a repentant person.
The Chafetz Chaim states (Hilchos Lashon Hara, Rule 10:1):
If someone sees that a person did an injustice to another,
such as if he stole from him, or robbed him or harmed
him… or that he shamed him or pained him… and he
knows for certain that he did not return what he stole
and did not pay for the damage he caused and did not ask
forgiveness for his sin, he is allowed to tell these things to
people to help the victims and to publicly condemn the
bad acts that were done.
So, too, if the beis din issues a judgment against someone and he
refuses to abide by it and the beis din finds it necessary to publicize
this fact, it is permissible to do so in order to save others from his
injustices. Even greater than that is what is cited in maseches Kesubos
49b, that if a person refuses to sustain and feed his son, one should
announce this in public.
All the above applies if the publicity will be beneficial – ensuring
that the thief will return what he stole, and the father will feed and
sustain his son. But if a person sinned and shows signs of remorse,
it is forbidden to disgrace him. As the Rambam says (Hilchos Teshu-
vah 7:10): “It is a big sin to say to a repenter ‘Remember your earlier
actions,’ or to remind him of them in order to shame him, as it is writ-
ten: “A person should not shame one’s fellowman.” Even if the person
was judged in a beis din and many heard about it, it is forbidden to
publicize the matter. As explained in the Rambam (Hilchos Deos 7:8)
even if the disgrace is already widely known it is forbidden to repeat
it if one’s intent is to spread the word and disgrace him more. All the
more so, if this will diminish his livelihood and marriage prospects,
and all the more so, if the matter is publicized in newspapers and is
engraved in the minds of the readers.

158 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein
6
A similar case happened many years ago, when a woman became
infected with tuberculosis and went to her physician. After he ex-
amined her, he determined that if she continues to live with her
husband she poses a danger to him, as he may also become infected,
because one must avoid contact with her sputum and the utensils
she uses. Therefore, they should get divorced. Since they never had
any fights or quarrels, her husband believed her. They traveled to a
rav who prepared a proper halachic bill of divorce for them. After a
while, the husband learned that his wife was healthy and was about
to marry another man, whom she had obviously set her eyes on. She
had bribed and convinced the physician to tell her husband that she
is dangerously ill. On the basis of this statement, he had given her the
bill of divorce.
The question came to the rav of the city: Is the divorce null and
void, so that she is prohibited from marrying another man? The Rav
referred the question to the Gaon, author of Divrei Malkiel (Part 8
#201) and he answered, as follows:
1. The Rav and the beis din of the city must tell the woman that
if she really asked the physician to say what he did, the divorce
is null and void and she is a married woman in all respects. If
she marries another man and has children, they are mamzerim,
because the divorce was given by mistake.
2. One can dispute this ruling and say that since the husband did
not look into the physician’s diagnosis thoroughly, and relied on
it implicitly, it seems that either way he wanted to divorce her. If
not, then why did he not make the effort to see if they physician
was indeed speaking the truth? Therefore, the divorce is valid,
despite the wife’s bribing of the physician.
In a similar case in maseches Gittin (46a) the Sages decreed
that if one divorces one’s wife because of a bad reputation
(a rumor that she had relations with another man), he
can never take her back, even if she did not in the interim
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