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sad, and bitter for one week each month. Her husband did not un- 3. In a case like this, if a girl underwent surgery for congenital cat-
derstand why, since they told him it was happenstance. Once they aract and knows that it is a hereditary condition, can she conceal
said it was an illness with high fever. Another time, they said, “this these facts in order to be able to get married?
is how women react to the pain of menstruation,” and he believed 4. If a child is suffering from retinitis pigmentosa, which is a dom-
them because he was young. However, as the days passed and the inant, hereditary illness causing blindness at fifteen-to-twenty
illness became permanent, he sought out a remedy. He was afraid she years of age, are they obligated to reveal this disorder to their
had some type of epilepsy since she told him that sometimes she saw potential spouses in the future? What is the physician’s obliga-
black and her vital organs would tremble. The physician ruled out tion in this case?
epilepsy, but did not want to reveal the nature of the disease for fear Professor P. Namet, Director of Ophthalmology
that the couple would separate. Department, Assaf Harofeh Hospital
After she gave birth, she got sick again and went totally of her
mind, to the point that she broke utensils and tore her clothes and 1 AnsweR
was forcibly restrained for more than half a year. The husband
learned that she had been sick even before the wedding, but she had There are illnesses which, if not told to the spouse, nullify the mar-
told him nothing. Ultimately beis din ruled that she leave the marriage riage as a mistaken transaction. For example, if one becomes engaged
with no kesubah, since it was a mistaken transaction, and especially to a woman and she turns out to be infertile, the kiddushin is null and
since she conducted herself improperly by not revealing her illness. void, and she needs no bill of divorce, because the transaction was
Although she did not have the cognitive ability to accept a get, the a mistake (Even Ha’ezer #39, Beis Shmuel #15). So, too, if a woman
beis din allowed him to remarry with the permission of one hundred marries a man and he is found to lack male potency, it is a mistaken
Rabbanim, on condition that the beis din determine with certainty transaction. As explained in the Ein Yitzchak (#24:10), his condition
that she had had this defect before the marriage. is worse than that of an infertile woman, because the latter is able to
From the words of the Ohr Gadol it seems that the physician acted live a normal marital life, while he is doubly stricken: he cannot have
contrary to the halacha, since he was obligated to reveal the nature of children and he cannot live a normal marital life.
the mental malady to the husband. The same applies in our case as If a man turns out to be an epileptic, some poskim rule that we do
well. not force him to give his wife a bill of divorce if she wants to separate
from him. Other poskim rule that this is considered a blemish on a
If the couple says that they do not want to know which one of man and we force him to divorce her, as explained in the Rama (Even
them is the carrier of the disease, they have shown that they consent- Haezer #154:5).
ed to the marriage in spite of the disease, and then one need not reveal Similarly, Responsa Chavas Ya’ir (#220) deals with the question of
it to them.
a groom who wanted to nullify his engagement because his bride’s
nose was longer than usual. He answered that “it seems that if the
Up to here, we have addressed the possibility of the prohibition length of the nose is not so prominent, meaning that most people
between man and his fellow, which is deception and a mistaken would not laugh at her, then his claim is worthless.”
transaction. Now we address the second issue, which is the mitzvah There was once a groom who found out that his bride was blem-
of procreation. ished: Her eye-lids were exceptionally closed, to the point that if
72 1 Medical-HalacHic Responsa of Rav ZilbeRstein Hereditary Vision Defects 2 61
