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but rather get involved in our Holy Torah with joy and
pleasure, because all secular things and all matters of this
world are not equal to one thing from the Torah, and to
one moment of Torah study. Know clearly that even if,
Heaven forbid, you are not well, you can be completely
healed. And do not, G-d forbid, view your problem as an
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irreparable blemish.
1 SuMMaRy and Conclusions
The father should learn how to speak to his son and how to treat him,
so that he can be a more central force in educating him.
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402 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein
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1 AnsweR
We passed on the question to the psychologist Dr. Alexander Gold-
schmidt, to hear his professional opinion. The following is part of his
answer:
…It is likely that the woman is unhappy with her husband, and we
will try to help her with this issue. If this is impossible, we will try to
analyze the situation with her and evaluate it from the perspective of
how “worthwhile” it would be for her to sin, so that she will reach the
conclusion that it is not worthwhile.
I will point out, that in all “normal” cases (excluding psychotics,
people with a mental disorder, and the mentally retarded), I found
patients with a conscience to be completely cooperative and grateful.
(A private patient comes willingly and will therefore cooperate. For a
physician providing treatment covered by the government, where the
patient may have been forced into coming, there are many non-psy-
chological yet ethical ways to protect the patient.)
There is a term that requires clarification: A “professional secret.”
There is no professional secret without its limits. There is, in fact, a
clear limit to professional confidentiality: In the case of possible harm
or danger to life - one’s own or someone else’s, confidentiality is set
aside. The above case is, for a Jewish woman, like suicide. It will cause
untold harm to herself and to her children. There is no problem for
the Orthodox psychologist to explain to his patient that he has to act
on her behalf in order to save her.
1 AnsweR
Sometimes the entire story should be questioned, and the psycholo-
gist should see if it is indeed true. For example, if a woman tells the
physician that she has committed adultery, is the physician obligated
to tell this to her husband so that he can divorce her? We rule that a
woman cannot testify about herself that she committed adultery. She
might have simply set her eyes on another man and chosen to lie in
order to be released from her marriage, as explained in maseches Ne-
Telling a woman that her spouse is suspected of sin 2 379
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