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ertheless dictates that a murderer is obligated to fulfill the mitzvah of
procreation and he should not be prevented from doing so.

Now, we find that Tosfos in Gittin (41a, s.v. leesa) writes that we do
not make any enactment that would lead to an increased number of
mamzerim among the Jewish nation, see there. This would seem to
provide grounds for arguing that although a murderer is obligated to
fulfill the mitzvah of procreation, we need not enable him to do so, so
as not to swell the ranks of ‘bad pups’ among our nation. However, we
can differentiate between the two situations because there we do not
introduce a specific enactment that would lead to increased numbers
of mamzerim, which is not the question under consideration here.

If the prisoner has fulfilled the mitzvah of procreation and already
has a son and a daughter, even though he is still under obligation to
beget more children, as it is written,“In the morning [of life] sow your
seed and in the evening [i.e. as one ages] do not desist [i.e. continue
to procreate] for you do not know which will be better, this or that,
or whether both will be equally good” (Koheles 11:6), which Chazal
interpret (in Yevamos 62b) as meaning that even if a person begets
children in his youth he should still have more children in his old age,
the prison authorities are not obligated to spend money to enable this
prisoner to have more children. He is not in a situation where the
command“do not desist” applies to him, for he is in prison and is thus
not violating the directive not to desist.

If there is any way to allow this Jewish prisoner to be secluded
with his wife he should not be allowed to avail himself of in vitro
fertilization, because a Jew is forbidden to emit semen by rubbing
[masturbation], as explained above, unless his sperm can be with-
drawn [from the spermatic ducts] through surgical procedure.

If the prisoner is a gentile and the prison authorities want to know
how the Torah views his case, our response would be the opposite of
our response regarding a Jewish prisoner, since gentiles are exempt
from the mitzvah of procreation. The authorities are therefore al-
lowed to deny the prisoner the opportunity of being secluded with
his wife. On the other hand there is no objection to his semen being
used to inseminate his wife, because gentiles are not forbidden to

98 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein