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those statistics and said that even in the year 5690, the percent Tov throughout the year, they should each work the same number of
of danger was not that high.) In France and other countries, shifts.]
they would tie the Fallopian tubes or sterilize the woman after However, we learn in the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah #16:6): If
her third Caesarean section. What is the halacha for a woman two people bought two animals, one the mother and the other the
who wants to become pregnant a fourth time, despite knowing child, it is prohibited to slaughter both of them on the same day. If
the possible danger? Are the physicians and family members both want to do so today, the one who did so first should inform
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obligated to convince her not to do so? [Note: nowadays (5777) the other one, who must then wait for the morrow. The Taz, writes
women can deliver babies normally, even after one or more Cae- (s.k.9) that the beis din should not step in and throw lots, because it
sarean sections.] is not correct to take away the right of either one to be the zealous
one and be rewarded. However, this does not resemble our case since
1 AnsweRs to Questions 1 and 2 either one on his own is allowed to slaughter his animal and does
not require the permission of the beis din. In our case, however, both
The Imrei Eish (Yoreh De’ah #52) deals with this question. It was cus- patients need the public equipment of the hospital, and neither pa-
tomary in Poland and Hungary, to find people who were willing, for a
12 tient can hurry on his own to be the first to receive dialysis from the
price, to go into the army during wartime. Is this not prohibited? He machine. There are two people seeking the physician’s assistance here,
answered that volunteering to go out to war is not considered as an so in this case, he should cast lots to decide.
act of suicide, and he cites two proofs:
My father-in-law, Rav Y. S. Elyashiv zt”l, added:
1. David HaMelech often went out to optional wars and was not The above words are correct if the hospital administration has not
concerned about “And you shall watch over your souls” (Devarim yet divided the shifts [whether for patients or for doctors]. In this
4:15). He refers to the Tosfos at the end of the chapter Shevuas case, it would be correct to give the Shabbos or Yom Tov shift to the
Ha’eidus. I believe he is referring to Tractate Shevuos (35b) where one who lives closer by, so that there will be less desecration of the
it says: Shmuel said, if one kills one of six random people, he Shabbos or Yom Tov.
is not punished. The Tosfos explains that this refers to a king However, if the assignments were already made and it came out
who takes soldiers to an optional war. If one sixth of the soldiers that Reuven does not have to travel on Yom Tov, one cannot force
die, he is not punished. But if more than one sixth fall, he is him to switch with Shimon, and to travel in his place, using the argu-
punished by Heaven. It seems that in the way of the world, up ment that he lives closer to the hospital. He is not obligated to forego
to a sixth of the soldiers fall in a war. Even during the second his mitzvos and rest in order to make it easier for Shimon. Shimon
Temple, when there was no urim v’tumim, it was permitted to is permitted to travel to the hospital. This is especially so when we
wage optional war. The Chashmonaim went out to an optional consider that many poskim rule that “the most lenient goes first” is
war in order to bring about salvation. We learn from this that only a Rabbinic mitzvah, and there is no Torah prohibition involved,
going out to war is not viewed as an act of suicide. as explained below.
2. In Tractate Gittin (47a) it is related that Reish Lakish sold him- It says that if a patient can save his own life either by eating tevel
self to Lydia, a nation of cannibals, and by an ingenious trick or neveilah, he is obligated to eat the neveilah, which is a less stringent
he killed them and saved himself. The Tosfos writes that this prohibition. However, we do not find anywhere that if Reuven will
incident occurred before Reish Lakish repented and returned to transgress a more stringent prohibition while Shimon could accom-

370 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein Shifts on Shabbos and Yom Tov, Dialysis on Chol Hamoed 2 339