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ible, nonetheless, medications are different. When taking medication, an Eiruv? Similarly, we could also ask: Is he allowed to go to shul on
a person wants the benefit of the drug and is not thinking about the Shabbos if he has to carry a gas mask?
chametz included therein at all. Therefore, even a non-dangerously
ill patient is permitted to take a bitter-tasting medication that has 1 AnsweR
chametz ingredients. If it is possible to separate the chametz and to
imporve it so that it is fit for dog consumption, according to the Pri There are two possible issues with carrying a beeper: a) muktzah and,
#
Chadash (Orach Chaim, end of #447), it is forbidden to take the med- b) carrying it from domain to domain.
ication, but, according to the Noda Biyehudah (second edition, Yoreh It seems that there is no need to be concerned about muktzah. For
De’ah #53) it is permissible. the physician, the beeper is viewed as a tool whose use on Shabbos is
permissible, because he is allowed to receive calls on it. This resembles
From the words of the Chazon Ish it seems that if the drug itself
is chametz, such as if it is made from yeast or from chametz alcohol, it a hoe and a pickax, which are not viewed as muktzah to the Chevra
is forbidden to take it, even though it is not fit for consumption by a Kadisha (burial society) on the second day of Yom Tov, when they are
dog. However, in Hagahos Yad Avraham (Yoreh De’ah, 84:17) it sounds permitted to bury the Jewish dead, as explained in the Shulchan Aruch
as though this is permitted. The Shulchan Aruch writes there, that it (Orach Chaim #526) and the Mishnah Berurah (ibid, 36).
is permissible to consume a burnt insect for medical purposes. The Regarding carrying from domain to domain, there is the possibil-
Yad Avraham expounds that a healthy person would be forbidden to ity of avoiding this prohibition if he walks out of his house, which
is a private domain, and walks to shul by way of a carmelis (neutral
consume the burnt insect, since, by consuming it, he is showing that
it is, in fact, still worthy of consumption. However, if someone takes domain), without stopping on the way, and he should then put it
it as a medication, this does not imply that he sees it as worthy of down in the shul, which is also a private domain. [This is explained by
the Chazon Ish (Orach Chaim #103:69). His reasoning is that even if
consumption, but only that he needs it in order to heal, and therefore he went from a private domain to another private domain through a
this is not forbidden.
public thoroughfare without stopping in the middle, this would only
All the above applies to medications which were compounded be a Rabbinic prohibition. (So, too, rules the Shulchan Aruch of Rav
before Pesach. If one disqualifies the chametz from being worthy of S. Z. Auerbach, Orach Chaim #347:9) because walking through a
consumption on Pesach itself, then it depends: If the medication is carmelis is a double Rabbinic prohibition.]
external, such as an ointment compounded from alcohol which is 
chametz, which it is possible to drink by making a small adjustment,
one is allowed to use the ointment on Pesach, if the patient is suffering
greatly and needs it, according to the Imrei Binah (Orach Chaim, Dinei
Pesach #7). (But it is preferable to prepare the medication in a gentile Leaving One’s House During an Emergency
pharmacy.) However, if it is consumed orally, it is prohibited to take Siren to Assist a Sick Patient
it on Pesach, unless the patient is dangerously ill.
1 Question
Why? The reason why it is permitted to consume medications
mixed with chametz is because the medication becomes unworthy of This incident took place on a Thursday, the second of Shevat in the
consumption. This applies only if it became disqualified before Pe- year 5751, when Iraq was attacking Eretz Yisrael. When the alarm was

212 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein a Far-fetched Concern of Pikuach Nefesh 2 241