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gle extra bundle results in malfunction and all the more if
there is an entire row of extra bundles.

In summation, according to our current medical knowl-
edge, it is impossible for two sperm cells to fertilize a single
ovum such that this will result in the birth of a live, healthy
child.

Dr. Yigal Gat, Head of Fertility De-
partment, Beilinson Hospital, Petach
Tikvah

It appears to me that current medical opinion relates only to the
chromosome sets of sperm cells from one man. Clearly, if an ovum re-
ceives two sets of chromosomes [one each from two sperm cells,] this
double complement of male chromosomal material cannot fertilize
the ovum in a way that will lead to the birth of a live, healthy child.
This conforms to an important rule stated by Chazal in Chullin (58b):
“Whatever is extra is as if it is missing.” This means for example that
an animal [or human] with three lungs instead of two is a terefah [i.e.
suffers from a condition incompatible with prolonged life and in the
case of an animal, may not be eaten, even after slaughter] and is unable
to supply sufficient oxygen to its own body, for it is sickly and will not
live out a year. All this is true of two sperm cells from one man, which
result in the ovum containing three sets of [single] chromosomes.

By contrast, our question deals with two men who had intercourse
with one woman and at the very same moment, with wondrous pre-
cision, a sperm head from each of them penetrated a single ovum of
the woman’s. It is possible for two heads to break through the outer
envelope of the ovum at the same split second and since each sperm
cell contains a perfect complement of genetic material, perhaps by
order from Above the best chromosomes from each sperm cell will be
taken up so that there will ultimately be just two sets of chromosomes
[i.e. one set of double chromosomes] as in every other fertilized cell,
with the excess genetic material being destroyed [by the cell] since it
is not needed, for Divine providence accompanies the sperm cell and

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