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then shouldn’t a half slave, half free man be able to discharge others’
obligations?

I asked my father-in-law Rav Y.S. Elyashiv zt”l this question – ac-
cording to the Maharam Schick that the androginos’ male ‘part’ can be
counted for a minyan, a half free man half slave should also be able
to be included in a minyan. He answered that the two cases are not
similar because an androginos is in fact part male and in this respect
he resembles “a partial lamb” but this is not the case with a half slave
half free man, who does not actually have a part that is free and in
regard to whom the inclusion of even “a partial lamb” is therefore
inapplicable.

ɳ Summary and Conclusions

To question one: In difficult situations the Maharam Schick’s asser-
tion that an androginos can be counted for a minyan can be relied
upon. I believe that my father-in-law zt”l, was of the opinion that in
all the above cases [mentioned in the questions at the beginning of
our discussion] we should be concerned that they are an androginos.2

To question two: Great care should be taken when informing the
parents, telling them that their daughter may be infertile but that
great medical advances are being made and it is possible that a rem-
edy will soon be discovered for her. This is particularly so since we
stand before the redemption and the coming of the Mashiach, about
which the prophet comforts Tzion and Yerushalayim saying, “Sing,
O barren one who has not given birth, break forth in song and exult

2. See too my father-in-law’s comments in Kovetz Teshuvos Vol. I #152, citing Chas-
dei David who writes that although the Sages were capable of resolving whether
an androginos is a male or a female, as the savants of natural science say – that
some of them are predominantly male and the female characteristics are insig-
nificant and with others it is the other way around – the Sages were reluctant to
leave these decisions in the hands of individuals for fear of the possibly ruinous
consequences.

162 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein