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mitzvos: the return of the stolen money, and the return of the thief ’s 1 AnsweR
soul, who paid him to fulfill this mitzvah.
Even if the thief continues to steal while on the road to recovery,
the money can be returned when he is healed, and one can hope that
he will do so. Therefore if there is hope for his recovery, the physician
should do nothing but treat him. He should not hand him over to the
authorities.
Our Sages invested much care in the decree allowing robbers
to repent. It says in maseches Bava Kamma (94b): If [professional]
thieves begin returning what they took, one should not accept it [but
rather forgive them] and he who accepts from them is not beloved by
the Sages. This is in order to keep a door open to repentance (Sema
#315:3). There was once a man once who wanted to repent. His wife
said to him, “Empty one, if you repent even your belt will not be
yours!” As a result of her words, he did not repent. At that time, it was
said: One should not accept the stolen items that [long-time] thieves
attempt to return, in order not to dissuade them from repentance.
1 AnsweR to Question 1
This question differs from the other two. In questions 2 and 3 we
ruled on whether or not to hand the patient over to the authorities,
who would then imprison or punish him. We explained that one
cannot do so based on the testimony of the patient because a person
cannot present himself as being evil. In this case, however, the ques-
tion is whether or not to notify the parents of the patient’s young
victims so that they can protect their girls from future tragedy. If the
patient admits that he is continuing his abusive acts, one is obligated
to inform the parents so that they will stop him.
Even though the patient will lose trust in the physician and his
treatment will be adversely affected, we cannot be patient with him
at the expense of the girls, when there is concern that they will wake
up and become overwhelmed with fear. In the case of the patient who
admits that he stole, we can concern ourselves with aiding his reha-
bilitation him because he can undo the harm he causes by returning
388 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein
# 20818
There are three questions to discuss here:
1. Perhaps the patient’s testimony is not enough of a reason to
inform the man’s superiors, so that they should look into the
issue and deal with it. Perhaps the story is untrue and the man
will be unfairly branded and disgraced.
2. Even if we say that the patient’s testimony is sufficient grounds
for investigation, is it right to expose this at the expense of dam-
age to the patient’s family?
3. Is the therapist obligated to expose the man’s misdeeds if doing
so will cause the therapist personal damage?
We will begin by answering the first question:
The navi Yirmiyahu relates (40:7-15 and 41:1-3,9):
…And all the captains of the forces heard… that the King
of Bavel had made Gedaliah ben Achikam Governor in the
land and had committed to him men, women and children
and the poorest of the land, of those who were not taken
captive to Bavel… and Yochanan ben Kareach, and all the
captains of the forces … came to Gedaliah at the Mitzpah
and said to him: Do you not know that Baalis, King of
Ammon, sent Yishmael ben Nesanyah to take your life?
But Gedaliah ben Achikam did not believe them. And Yo-
chanan ben Kareach secretly said to Gedaliah in the Mitz-
pah, I shall go and kill Yishmael ben Nesanyah and no man
will know. Why should he kill you and all of Yehudah who
gather around? You will disperse and the remaining men
of Yehuda will be lost?! And Gedaliah ben Achikam said
to Yochanan ben Kareach: Do not do this thing, for you
speak falsehood about Yishmael…. And it came to pass in
the seventh month that Yishmael ben Nesanyah…and ten
men with him, came to Gedaliah at the Mitzpah and they
ate bread together at the Mitzpah. Then Yishamel rose,
Patient reveals sins 2 393