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We do not circumcise a sick baby. Therefore, Shmuel specifies that the eye, in spite of the fact that the physicians say there is no danger
the implication of the Mishnah is that after he recovers from his ill- to life.
ness, one still has to wait seven days until he is rehabilitated and his There is a big question we can raise about this topic. The Gemara
strength returns to normal. The time of rehabilitation is seven days. says that a baby should be washed in hot water before and after the
There is something similar to this written in Responsa Divrei Malkiel circumcision. If the water spilled after the circumcision, we desecrate
(Vol. 2 #131:1). Shabbos and heat up more water to wash him, because of the danger, as
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Now we come to answer our question. Lachrymal gland infections explained in Tractate Shabbos (134b). In practice, the Shulchan Aruch
nowadays can be treated and cured, thanks to medications that were (Orach Chaim #331:9) writes: At the time of the Gemara, if the baby
discovered in recent years. However, until 100 years ago, this illness was not washed with hot water before and after the circumcision, he
was liable to cause blindness and danger to life. Therefore, there is no would be in danger. Nowadays, the practice is not to wash the baby at
doubt that this illness is not halachically considered “mild pain.” Rath- all, because natures have changed. If this applies to washing the baby,
10
er the medications we have nowadays prevent this type of infection can we not say the same for the danger of eye-infections, especially
from spreading or worsening. Therefore, when the baby has a serious since theTeshuras Shai testified that he has never heard of someone
conjunctive inflammation, with redness and secretion of pus, even dying from an eye infection?
though it can be easily treated, one should probably wait seven days. Tosfos (Mo’ed Katan 11a) explain that our natures have changed,
After all, fever can also be easily treated, yet we still wait seven days and certain things that were beneficial to one’s health at the time of
after recovery, as explained in the Shulchan Aruch cited above, since the Gemara are nowadays dangerous. Even the remedies mentioned
the seven days are not meant to cure the baby but these are the days in the Gemara are of no benefit to us today. The Tiferes Yisrael (Shab-
of rehabilitation after the recovery. So, too, in our case, we wait seven bos 19:1, Boaz), in a discussion on the practice of metzitzah (sucking
days after the baby has recovered from his infection. blood) also raises the possibility that natures have changed nowadays.
In Responsa Divrei Malkiel (Vol. 2 #131) there is a question about Likewise, the Chazon Ish (Even Ha’ezer 12:7) says that in our days,
a city where most of the newborn boys had secretions and mucus nature has changed, and urine and sperm come from one duct, unlike
in their eyes, and the mohelim delayed the circumcisions as a result. in the days of the Talmud, when two ducts were postulated. Perhaps
Some people were opposed to this. They claimed the mucus stemmed we can say the same about an eye infection?
from the eyelids, rather than the internal eye. Others claimed there I posed this question to my father-in-law, Rav Y. S. Elyashiv zt”l,
was no pain to the babies at all, and the secretions resulted from the and he answered me: Had the physicians understood the words of
babies looking at the light of the world more than necessary. As hap- our Sages, and claimed that nature has changed, we would rely on
pens to adults who look at the sun too much, these were the natural their words. However, since they do not understand our Sages’ words
effects on their eyes. The Sefer D’var Eliyahu writes that one needs about the connection between the eye and the heart, this means we
expertise to distinguish between different types of tears. Practically, are missing knowledge on this topic, so we do not have the capacity to
the Divrei Malkiel concludes: say that nature has changed.
1. If one sees mucus in the eyes of a newborn, it is prohibited to This is different than washing after circumcision (and metzitzah),
circumcise him. One should not pay heed to the physicians’ or the spermatic ducts. Regarding these things, the poskim understand
words, which are in opposition to an explicit law in the Torah the words of the Sages so they were able to determine that nature has
and in the Talmud and poskim. changed.
282 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein Shabbos in an Ophthalmology Department 2 299
