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and the Holy One, blessed be He, waits until he marries a woman and because he did not look into the matter enough - and thus we can 2
sires first one son and then a second son. Then the Holy One, blessed consider him to be negligent, as explained by the Ramban (there) - he
be He, takes the child from him. The result is that he has paid his is still exempt from payment. The obligation to pay applies only in
debt; Hashem has taken back what is rightfully His, and he remains the case of “one who shows coins to a moneychanger,” meaning he
among the living. As it says (Yirmiyahu 15:19): “If you return and I wants advice from an expert on the value of his coins. On the other
bring you back, you shall stand before Me.” hand, if someone questioned an ordinary man on the street and he
When Hashem loves a person and that person is guilty and de- gave him an incorrect evaluation, he is probably exempt from paying
serves to die, He gives him a son who deserves to die or suffer severely because the questioner knew that his advice was based on his limited
because of a transgression of his own so that the father’s sins will be knowledge of the subject.
atoned for by these sufferings and the son will achieve rectification. The same would apply in our case. If the couple was aware that the
It says in the Siddur Eitz Yosef (Otzar Hatefilos, p. 99, commentary genetic advice was not in the area of the physician’s expertise, he is
on Tehillim 33) that this is meaning of the passuk “He loves tzedakah exempt from payment. The couple brought the damage upon them-
(chessed) and justice, the lovingkindness of Hashem fills the earth.” selves by seeking advice from an inappropriate person and relying on
Hashem first showers man with good things and blessings due to His him.
measures of rachamim and chessed, but in hidden ways, because of the 
measure of din. When the din prevails He sends the accuser to collect We have referred to the fact that the physician is not obligated to
his debts. In other words, he begins with tzedakah – chessed - and then pay for his erroneous advice. Nonetheless, the physician has clearly
judgment comes. violated the Torah law: “You shall not put a stumbling block in front
In light of all the above, we can understand why a son cannot sue of the blind” (Sefer Hachinuch, Mitzvah #232, Vayikra 19:14). We are
his parents for bringing him into the world. It is a benefit for him and commanded not to trip up a blind person, which includes not giving
he was destined to come down into the world, and thus merit life in bad advice. Instead, we should lead the blind on the path that seems
the World to Come. His life on this earth, with all its accompanying proper and right to us. As it says, “Do not put a stumbling block
anguish and difficulty – measured to perfection by the all-merciful [wrong information] before the blind.” Do not give advice which is
Creator – serves to rectify what he has done wrong. not correct and not appropriate.
The parents can also more easily bear the suffering with the rec- It seems to me that if the advising physician did not look into the
ognition that this child is good for the entire family and their reward matter sufficiently, he transgressed “Do not put a stumbling block
is great for bringing a child into the world in order to achieve his before the blind,” especially when the questioner paid for the advice.
rectification. One needs to rule if the physician can achieve forgiveness on high
The Hagahos Semak wonders why we desecrate the Shabbos for a for his sin by compensating with money (although he is halachically
child whose head is crushed and will certainly die. The principle is well exempt from payment).
known: “Desecrate one Shabbos so that if he lives he will be able to ob- The son of the author of Alfei Menashe asked the Gaon, Rav
serve many Shabboses” (Shabbos 151b). Where are the many Shabboses Yitzchak of Volozhin, whether or not he should sail on the ocean,
of this boy whose head is crushed? Rav Eliyahu Baal Shem responds since he dreamed that he would drown. The Gaon answered him:
(in the commentary of Maharshal on the Semag (Hilchos Shabbos, p. “Dreams are not to be considered seriously, one way or another.” On
42) that it is well known that every family and city is judged by the the basis of this advice, he set out to sea and he drowned. When the

38 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein Erroneous genetic advice 2 47