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Before clarifying the halachah in regard to a sperm donor [as
in Prof. Czechnover’s question]1 let us first discuss the question of
whether the husband himself is allowed to emit his semen for the
purpose of medical testing.

The gemara says in maseches Yevamos (76a): “Rav Mari bar Mar
said in the name of Mar Ukva, quoting Shmuel, ‘A slit in the corona
which has closed, if upon emission of semen it becomes enlarged, he
is pasul but if not, he is kosher.’” Rashi explains: “If there is a small
hole in the male organ which has somewhat closed and is not recog-
nizable – we observe, if when he is aroused and emits semen it tears
more and widens from the pressure of the converging semen, he is
pasul [i.e. disqualified from marrying a Jewish mate because he is a
kerus shufchah (mutilated genitals – hypospadias)].”

“Rava ben Rabba sent a question to Rav Yosef:‘Our teacher should
teach us how to go about this [i.e. how do we get him to emit semen
in order to check whether he is allowed to marry a Jewish mate]?’
He answered: ‘We bring warm barley bread and put it on his anus
and he becomes aroused and will ejaculate and we observe him.’” The
gemara says further that he can be made to ejaculate by dangling col-
ored women’s garments before him so that he thinks of a woman and
ejaculates.

[From this piece of gemara the Beis Shmuel (Even Ha’ezer 25:2)
derives the ruling that if a woman finds blood on her sheet following
intercourse and there is doubt as to the whether the blood came from
her or whether her husband’s semen contained blood, he is allowed
to express a few drops of semen in order to clarify whose blood it is.]

The gemara’s comments are extremely difficult to understand, be-
cause the emission of semen for naught is a major prohibition. Quot-
ing the Holy Zohar, the Shulchan Aruch (Even Ha’ezer 23:1) writes
that this sin is more stringent than all other Torah prohibitions. In
maseches Niddah (13a) it is written, “Rabbi Yochanan said, ‘Anyone

1. For how to go about obtaining semen in light of the halachic principle that in
situations where prohibitions are set aside, a less stringent prohibition should be
violated before a more stringent one, see further siman 252.

Obtaining Semen 2 11