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

348 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein Telling a woman that her spouse is suspected of sin 2 377

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