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him: Father, your decree is worse than that of Pharaoh, for Pharaoh The question is, does Chazal’s exemption of payment for damages 2
only decreed death on the males and you cut off the lives of both apply only to a physician who heals illnesses or relieves pains, or also
the boys and the girls. Moreover, Pharaoh decreed death only in this to an optician who prepares glasses to enable the patient to see better?
world, and you decreed both in this world and in the World to Come. Moreover, even if we rule that an optician is not included in
Rashi explains her words as follows: While Pharaoh sought to kill the Chazal’s exemption, one can still exempt him from paying in a human
babies in this world, after which they would come to the World to court because he did not actively cause damage with his hands but
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Come, by preventing their births, you do not allow them to reach the by indirect causation (g’rama). Since he simply wrote a prescription
World to Come as well. which resulted in the damage, the doctor may be halachically exempt
Thus, bringing children into the world is good for them even if from payment.
they are drowned right after birth. The fact that they were born enti- On the other hand, one can obligate him to pay for damages based
tles them to the World to Come. Likewise we can say that it is better on the law regarding a mazik begarmi (very indirect causation, cause
for a baby to be born, even with blemishes, for the child will merit of a cause) who was paid for his work. As we learned in maseches
eternal life in the World to Come. Bava Kamma 99b: “If one shows a coin to a moneychanger and the
As we cited in Sefer Toras Hayoledes (Ch. 37, Note 9), upon the latter erred in his evaluation of the coin, if the coin owner already
birth of a blind baby, or a baby lacking a limb, lame, or suffering from paid the moneychanger and also said to him” ‘I am relying on you’, the
a cleft lip and palate, it is possible that one recites the bracha of Hatov moneychanger is obligated to pay. This is the ruling in the Shulchan
Vehameitiv. What does it matter if he is handicapped?! The child may Aruch (Choshen Mishpat #306:6) as well. It applies even if the error
grow up to be a great Torah scholar, such as Rav Yosef who was blind was completely unintentional, since the owner of the coin explicitly
and Nachum Ish Gamzu who was handicapped and whose merit told him he was relying on his advice.
protected the entire Jewish People! This may apply in our case as well, for anyone who comes to an
There is a question about whether or not one recites the bracha fol- eye doctor relies on the number for the lenses that the doctor gives
lowing the birth of a baby with Down’s syndrome. The joy in general him. Therefore perhaps it is considered to be garmi and the doctor is
is the fact that a soul from Heaven has come into the world, bringing obligated to pay by a human court, even though he did not directly
closer the coming of the Mashiach who will only arrive once all the damage with his hands. All this applies only if the doctor received
souls in Heaven have been placed in human bodies (Yevamos 62b). payment. (An expert doctor who works for nothing is exempt from
According to this, it seems appropriate for the parents to thank Hash- payment. As the Gemara rules, if the expert moneychanger in the
em by reciting the bracha. Furthermore, the parents are also fulfilling above scenario had worked for free, he would have been exempt from
the mitzvah of procreation and, according to one view, the child can paying the damages incurred as a result of his error.)
be counted for a minyan when he becomes bar mitzvah (see Responsa
Maharil #196). The Kesef Hakodashim (Choshen Mishpat #25:1) writes as follows:
One Torah scholar says that since the boy certainly exempts his A moreh hora’ah (rabbinic decisor) who erred in his ruling,
mother from chalitzah, as he is considered a continuation of his fa- and as a result caused a loss - if he has reached the level of
ther’s name, therefore, the father should recite the bracha of Hatov being a moreh hora’ah, although he is not ordained, he is
Vehameitiv for his handicapped son. But the blessing of Shehecheyanu, halachically considered an expert and thus is exempt from
which reflects a joyous heart, should not be recited. In practice, my payment if he made a mistake. If a shochet testified that

34 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein Error in Refraction Measurements 2 51

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