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The man began to deny the charges, until they asked him to give her sick. If he can swim in the seas, he is obligated to swim in a river to
a bill of divorce. Then he admitted that he was the woman’s husband rescue someone who is drowning. But a person is not obligated to
and divorced her. As he left, he said he was not really the husband of learn how to swim and to heal the sick so that if the occasion presents
the woman. itself to save a drowning person or to heal the sick he will be able to
He then came to the town of Przemyśl¸ where another agunah save or heal.
woman recognized him as her husband, and all the people of Przemy- According to this, we can understand why Rav Yochanan’s oath is
śl recognized him as being from the same community, son of so-and- not considered an oath made to violate a mitzvah. Since there is no
so and married to the woman. The man also admitted he was from obligation to learn medicine in order heal the sick, the mitzvah only
Przemyśl and that he had “divorced” the woman in the city of Fin for applies to those who have the knowledge to do so.
the money he received for the divorce. The Rav Hagaon of Przemyśl According to this, we can also explain the sugya in maseches Shab-
wrote, with his beis din, that the woman from Fin was halachically bos (133b) where it is related that Rava did not reveal to the public
considered a married woman because she had received the divorce how to heal lesions that develop on the skin of the face. Since there is
from the wrong man. Nonetheless, the people of both towns, Fin and no mitzvah to publicize remedies in order to help should the need be-
Przemyśl, insisted they had recognized him with certainty as the man come necessary, Rava left this to the physicians, so as not to impinge
from their town. The Torah scholars contemplated the the status of on their livelihood (as explained in Sefer Chinuch Beis Yitzchak (#34)).
the two women…”
The Noda Biyehudah writes at the end of his responsum that we
can negate with certainty the possibility that there are two men who
look exactly alike. He writes that “it is difficult to say,” that when the
Sages said (maseches Sanhedrin 37a) that the Holy One, blessed be Swearing falsely in order to calm a patient
He, does not create two people with the same seal, this only applies 1
most of the time. Furthermore, he continues, why do witnesses whose Question
testimony was disproven get flogged if an allegedly murdered person A cancer patient asked his physician to reveal to him the whole truth
shows up alive (maseches Bava Kamma 74b)? Why do we not assume about his illness. The physician lied in order to calm the patient and
that they saw someone else, who resembles him exactly? The answer is prevent him from getting depressed. He told him that he is suffering
because it is altogether impossible that two people look exactly alike. from a stomach ailment and not from cancer. The patient wanted the
There was a similar case of two identical sisters (cited in a midrash, physician to swear. Is the physician permitted to do so?
Bamidbar Rabbah, Parsha 9). In that case, the kohen did not think
for a moment that he was giving the sotah waters to the rebellious 1
woman’s sister, and the husband was not obligated to check whether AnsweR
this was truly his wife. Nonetheless, had they looked into it, they It says in maseches Nedarim (27b): One can make a vow to murderers
would certainly have discovered some slight difference between the and tax collectors saying [the produce in his possession belongs to]
two women. “the House of the King,” even if it is not from the House of the King.
But here, in this case, the people of Przemyśl and the people of Fin The Gemara explains that this applies to murderous robbers who de-
each maintained that the man was from their town, even after they mand people’s money and produce, and the Mishnah allows the owner
336 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein Is a doctor obligated to report deficient vision? 2 325
