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to inform the other person in order to save him from harm, according
to the conditions listed there. If he does not tell, he violates “Do not
stand idly by the blood of your fellowman” and also violates “You shall
restore it to him” [his lost health]. (See Responsa Tzitz Eliezer, Vol. 16
#4.) This law applies not only when there is a possibility of danger to
life but also when dealing with a serious illness or monetary loss. In
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our case, the mohel can transmit a serious illness to the many babies he
circumcises. In order to save them, one must prevent this man from
being a mohel. On the other hand, it is a distant concern, because in
his present stage of illness he can be cured. It is also not likely that he
will repeat his sin after the damage it caused him this time. Even if he
does, the lesion of syphilis may not be in his mouth, and then the act
of circumcision would not lead to contagion. Furthermore, it may be
sufficient to just warn him not to return to his sinful ways.
However, it is possible that regarding a mohel one must take into
account another line of thought. As the Maharil (Hilchos Milah, #5)
writes, and as brought in the halachah in the Rama (Yoreh Deah,
264:1), one should seek out the most virtuous and righteous mohel,
and someone who transgressed so seriously may not be fitting to act
as a mohel altogether.
Another question asked by a hospital administrator:
An expert physician is suspected of stealing from his patients.
The hospital administration has found evidence to substantiate this
suspicion. Must he be fired from his job in order to save the public
from harm?
1 AnsweR to Question 1
It says in the Shulchan Aruch (Even Haezer #4:4): If a woman whose
husband is overseas for more than twelve months gives birth after
twelve months, the baby is considered a mamzer, because a baby
does not remain in its mother’s womb more than twelve months.
The Baal Halachos Gedolos (Hilchos Gittin, p. 420) believes that he is
not presumed to be a mamzer. Since it is an argument between the
poskim, the baby is rendered a “possible mamzer.” The Rama writes: If
348 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein
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and since he has no fear of Hashem, there is nothing to hold him back
from having relations with sick women.
However, some poskim question the Minchas Chinuch. Since a
person halachically does not own himself, how can we compare an
attempt at suicide to an intentional loss of an object? He has no own-
ership over his life to begin with!
Perhaps we can answer that the Minchas Chinuch applies since
there are those of our Sages who permit suicide in certain situations.
For example, Shaul Hamelech asked the Amalekite boy to kill him,
for he feared the torture his enemies would inflict on him before his
death. In this situation, although we are forbidden to hasten his death
and we must try to save him, nonetheless, since he decided, in accor-
dance with some of our Sages, that it was permissible for him to kill
himself, this is called an “intentional loss of an object” and there is no
mitzvah to save him.
According to this approach, in our case one should not rely on the
Minchas Chinuch because there is no room to permit the woman to
intentionally lose her life. She will be held accountable in the Heav-
enly Court for behaving irresponsibly and living with a gentile who
endangers her life.
1 SuMMaRy and Conclusions
1. If a Jewish woman is married to a Jewish man suspected of car-
rying AIDS, thereby placing her in danger, the physician should
convince the man to reveal this to his wife. If he refuses, the
physician has to make every effort to make the woman aware of
this, even if it may affect his livelihood. There is no limit to the
reward of this physician, as explained in the holy Zohar (parshas
Haazinu).
2. If a Jewish woman lives with a gentile, and she has a child, and
there is a reasonable possibility that the child may become in-
fected, the physician has to make every effort to save the child.

Telling a woman that her spouse is suspected of sin 2 377
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