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giving birth experiences difficulty breathing, or a patient in a cooked on Pesach by a gentile is forbidden to write with, since it was
surgical unit or urological unit suffers from chest pain or abnor- not disqualified from consumption by a dog before its time. Likewise,
malities in their heartbeat, they will alert the internal physician the Imrei Binah (Dinei Pesach #8) disagrees with the Mekor Chaim
on call. as well. According to them it is prohibited to swallow a medication
My question is: Am I to come to the hospital by foot or by car? compounded by a gentile on Pesach.
How am I to return home, being that I am liable to be called on my In the case of pikuach nefesh requiring medications containing
beeper while on my way home, and can possibly receive several calls chametz compounded on Pesach, it is preferable that a gentile make
on the same day? the medication, since according to the Mekor Chaim, if food became

Dr. Rimon Ephraim, Internal medicine specialist, disqualified for a dog to eat on Pesach, it is permitted. The Responsa
Kaplan Hospital, Rechovot Sha’arei De’ah (Litwin, Vol. 2 #37) writes similarly. If a Jew compounds
the medication, even if the chametz is disqualified for consumption,
1 AnsweR this does not help on Pesach itself.
Rav Dr. Moshe Rothschild related that once a great Torah scholar
In Tractate Yoma (85a) it says that when it comes to pikuach nefesh, sent him a patient who suffered from high blood pressure on Pesach,
we do not follow the rule of the majority. Therefore, if a child is found and he gave him medications. The next day they brought him to the
in a city of mostly gentiles, and it is not known if he is Jewish, we hospital, paralyzed. The reason for this was because after they gave
desecrate Shabbos on his behalf, and one clears away the rubble from him the medications, the patient vomited them, because, in his fool-
the building that collapsed on him. ishness, he wanted to prevent himself from eating chametz on Pesach.
However, we do not desecrate Shabbos to prevent danger which is The Torah scholar said to him – I should have turned on the electric-
not at all present. One of the sources for this rule is the Gemara in ity on Yom Tov for the patient, in order to show him that he is defined
Tractate Shabbos (45a), where it is recorded that Rav was asked: Is one as dangerously ill. Then he would have agreed to take the medication!
permitted to move the Chanukah menorah after it is extinguished, out
of fear of the Persian people who forbade the Jews to have fire in their
houses? Rav answered that it is permitted to move the Chanukah me- 1 SuMMaRy and Conclusions
norah after it is extinguished because during a time of danger we can
rely on Rav Shimon, who permits moving it. 1. Medications contaning chametz ingredients which were com-
HaGaon Rav Akiva Eiger asks (in his Responsa, first edition #60): pounded before Pesach: If they are not bitter and they have a
In situations of danger or possible danger, all Torah laws are suspend- taste, such as sucking pills, syrup, and the like, they are allowed
ed. If so, why do we have to rely on Rav Shimon’s ruling? He answers: only for a dangerously ill patient if it is impossible to heal him
Since there is no actual danger, but rather just a small possibility of any other way.
danger, it is necessary to rely on Rav Shimon. We can explain that
the Jews who lit the Chanukah lights probably posted guards outside 2. If the medication is bitter, and the primary medical ingredient
to protect them from their oppressors. Therefore, the possibility in it is not chametz, it is permitted even for a patient who is
of danger was very slight. Even if the oppressors had entered their not in danger. If the primary medical ingredient is chametz,
homes to investigate, the Jews could have hidden their menorahs, and according to the Chazon Ish it is forbidden for a patient who

238 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein Medications that Contain Chametz 2 215

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