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emit semen for the purpose of impregnating their wives. However,
the question of whether it is correct to bring‘bad pups’ into the world
needs to be carefully considered5.

I heard from my father-in-law, Rav Y.S. Elyashiv zt”l, as follows: In
only two cases does our holy Torah command us to completely wipe
out the wicked, leaving no trace or remembrance of them. These are
Amalek and the seven nations who lived in the land of Canaan. This
is because it was clear to Hashem yisbarach that these evildoers had
become greatly corrupted and He therefore forbade leaving behind
any trace of them. This is not the case in regard to any other evildoers.
Therefore, so long as the murderer is not as corrupt as Amalek or the
seven Canaanite nations, there is no reason to forbid a gentile physi-
cian to allow him to leave some memory behind in the world and he
should try to raise the offspring born as a result of this fertilization to
be moral and decent, to behave well and he should try to instruct him
in the proper path to follow, so that he should not be a ‘bad pup’ [i.e.
emulate his forbear].

ɳ Summary and Conclusions

1. It is forbidden to obtain sperm by rubbing [masturbation]
even in order to freeze it to use in fertilizing his wife at
a later time. However, it is permitted to withdraw sperm
from the spermatic ducts through surgical procedure.

2. A Jew who is imprisoned for murder and who has been
sentenced to death and wants to leave behind some off-
spring so that his name should not be erased from Yisrael
forever, should be enabled to fulfill the mitzvah of pro-
creation by being secluded with his wife but not through
artificial insemination.

5. See Teshuvos Maharam Chalavah 39, who discusses whether a Jew is allowed to
arrange marriages between non-Jews and Arabs. He rules that “it is definitely
forbidden, for he thereby brings about the birth of idolatrous children… but
what can I do since people regard this as permitted and ‘let Yisrael be; it is pref-
erable that they do wrong unintentionally,’” see there.

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