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apply to all vows in the world but only things which involve personal
deprivation, and to vows that apply between him and her. In these
two areas, the husband has the power to nullify her vows because she
is obligated to him in these two areas: She is obligated to appear nice
in his eyes and not to disgust him by depriving herself or fasting. As
our Sages said, (Kesubos 61b) “For she was the mother of all human SHOULD ONE REVEAL TO
beings”- she was given to him to bring life and not to cause pain. THE GROOM THAT HIS WIFE
Of course, in those matters that apply between him and her she is 80 HAS FALSE TEETH?
obligated to him as well. Therefore, if she makes a vow in these two
areas she is vowing with her husband in mind, since she is obligated
to him.]
We see from here that we have no right to treat a woman if the
treatment might harm her without the husband’s permission, because 1 Question
it will cause him a loss. Therefore, the question arises full force. Is one
permitted to do the IVF and insemination which may endanger her An eighteen-year-old girl lost all her teeth. (Her mother had taken
life without receiving his consent? large doses of antibiotics during her pregnancy.) She asked me to
arrange for a set of false teeth. I heard that she was engaged to be
I asked my father-in-law, Rav Y. S. Elyashiv zt”l, and he answered married and her groom does not know that her teeth are artificial.
me, as follows: Do I have to instruct her to tell her groom, so as not to violate the
One has to examine two points in this question: 1) Is their marriage prohibition of “And you shall not wrong one another” (Vayikra 25:17),
a mistaken transaction, being that she did not tell her husband about or am I allowed to ignore the whole thing?
her medical problems? If so, then one would have to notify him and
certainly not to go ahead with this procedure without his knowledge. Dr. Chovav
2) We need to deliberate on what is truly good for her. If it will be Director, Dept. of Dentistry
bad for her if she does not get pregnant, it will also not be good for Bikur Cholim Hospital, Jerusalem
the husband if his wife is embittered.
Now let us examine the questions in the letter. The first question: 1 AnsweR
Is it permissible to do these things without the husband’s knowledge?
It seems that her medical condition does not make their marriage I asked my father-in-law, Rav Y. S. Elyashiv zt”l, who answered as
into a mistaken transaction because as long as she is not pregnant, follows:
her life is not endangered. Moreover, he did not marry her in order to In Tractate Bechoros (37a) Tosfos asks (s.v. mah): Why is it that a
have children, because he has children from a previous marriage and Kohen whose teeth fell out is not considered to have a blemish, yet
she is at an age where her chances of having children are small, espe- a gentile slave whose master knocked out one of his teeth becomes a
cially since she had to resort to in-vitro fertilization treatment. The free man because of the blemish? Tosfos answers, that a slave is differ-
Kehillos Yaakov wrote based on the Gemara in Yevamos (45a) where ent, because the Torah says that a small thing is considered enough
a man whose father was a gentile was advised by Rav Yehudah and of a defect to free him from his servitude. On the other hand, only a

96 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein Wife has False Teeth 2 101