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Gaon heard this, he took it upon himself to learn Mishnayos for one
year in memory of this person, since a terrible thing happened be-
cause of him. But he did not compensate anyone for what happened.
In Responsa Noda Biyehudah (first edition, Orach Chayim #34),
there is a question about an old man who asked a merchant for mer-
chandise which he planned to sell somewhere nearby. Despite his
wife’s objections that he is weak and the roads are in disrepair and full
of soldiers and armies, the old man convinced the merchant to give
him the merchandise. The old man was killed on the road. The mer-
chant now wanted to know if he needed to repent and achieve atone-
ment. The Noda Biyehudah answered that since he did not initiate the
trip, the death of the merchant does not require atonement. This case
is not comparable to the massacre of Nov Ir Hakohanim, for which
Doeg Haedomi, King Shaul and his three sons were held responsible.
As it says, “How long will this sin [the killing of 400 priests in Nov]
be hidden with you?” (maseches Sanhedrin 104.) Practically, the Noda
Biyehudah advised him to fast for three days [Monday, Thursday, and
Monday], and if he so desired, it would be a good thing to give some
gift to the departed man’s orphans, as this is considered a means of
atonement.
And so, in our case too, if the physician was negligent, it is possible
that compensation to the father of the child with Hunter syndrome
for his aggravation, anguish, and substantial medical expenses can
serve as an atonement for the sin of “Do not put a stumbling block
before a blind person.”
1 SuMMaRy and Conclusions
1. There is no reason to obligate the physician who gave genetic
advice to pay for damages, neither in a human court nor in a
Heavenly one. This is so even if the truth could have been clari-
fied by more tests, which would have shown whether or not the
woman was carrying the gene for Hunter syndrome; especially
since Chazal dictate that a family is only established as a family
of epileptics or lepers when three or more cases have occurred,
48 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein
his Creator not to have to descend again from the Upper
World to the lowly world.
And when man sees that he must be reincarnated in
this world, he begs to at least come around this time as
poor and dejected or missing a hand so that he will not be
able to hit his fellowman. But his accuser (in Heaven) does
not agree to his request and calls out that then the balance
will not be equal. He wants the man to be rich, with two
functioning hands, and only after many prayers and sup-
plications he may have the merit and his request will be
accepted…., and he will indeed be born handicapped.
Some people mourn their bad luck in this world… or
their handicaps, completely forgetting the effort they put
into being created… with a defect, and unable to hit their
fellow. And this is the meaning of the verse “For the stat-
utes of Hashem are true and they are righteous altogether.”
They are “altogether” only if one knows what happened to
a person before his creation and how he insisted on being
created this way.
What we have said until now is an answer to the question: Why is a
baby born blemished? But we still have to explain why this particular
mother was destined to have such a baby.
The answer to that is found in Yalkut Shimoni (Shemos #398):
“What can this be compared to? To a king who was owed 100 maneh
by a certain person. He sent a messenger to that person, telling him
‘Come and repay your debt to the king’. He refused. The king sent
another who told him: ‘come and repay your debt to the king’. Again,
he refused. What did the king do? He came at night and took a bag
and put 100 maneh in it and threw it into the open window. When
the man awoke and saw the bag, he was happy. Then the king sent
another messenger who told the man: ‘come and repay your debt to
the king’. He came and paid him what he owed him. The end result is
that he paid off his debt and the king got back what belonged to him.
Likewise, if a man commits a sin, he is worthy of the death penalty,
Erroneous genetic advice 2 37