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physician, is thus the one who initiates the sin, by deciding to live in
a sinful manner and the physician therefore doesn’t violate lifnei iver.

It’s possible to ask a question on the Igros Moshe from the gemara
in Mo’ed Katan (17a), where the gemara forbids a father to hit his
adult son because this places “a stumbling block before a blind man,”
for the son may strike his father in retaliation, even though it is the
son who initiates that sin. The gemara (Bava Metzia 75b) similarly
forbids lending money without witnesses, lest the borrower fail to
repay the money and deny having received it. In this case, the lender
certainly cannot be considered to be extending the “object” of sin to
the borrower because his intention is to assist the borrower in his
hour of need and once the latter’s situation improves he wants his
money back and it is the borrower who initiates the sin of his own
volition, yet this is still considered “putting a stumbling block before
the blind2.”

This question can be answered by saying that a father who hits his
adult son provokes him and makes it difficult for him to refrain from
sinning. Similarly, a lender who loans money without witnesses is
exposing the borrower to the temptation of denying the loan, because
human nature covets money. It is not so in the case of a physician
who tells his patient that medically speaking marital relations will not
harm her health. By doing so he is in no way inciting or encouraging
the woman to live the life she does without being married, therefore
his advice does not constitute placing “a stumbling block.”

As we have noted though, even when the Torah prohibition of
lifnei iver doesn’t apply, we still need to address the rabbinic concern
of assisting a sinner in his transgression.

We can resolve this question by comparing our case to a case about
which the Binyan Tzion (15) was asked: Is it permitted to give a man-
uscript to a non-Jewish printing house that employs Jewish workers,
when there are grounds for suspecting that they may work on Shab-
bos? Will the author be guilty of placing a “stumbling block” before

2. For further discussion of the parameters of “putting a stumbling block before
the blind” see further, siman 286.

Giving Advice that will Enable a Sinner to Continue Sinning 2 265