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public. We find in maseches Bava Basra (155b) the case of a youth
who inherited a field from his father and sold it. His relatives realized
that the sale had not been a wise move and they sought a strategem
by which to have it invalidated by presenting the boy to Rava as a
shoteh. They taught him that while sitting before Rava he should eat
dates and throw the pits in front of him, leading Rava to consider
him an imbecile and nullify the sale altogether. Later, when Rava gave
instructions to draw up his ruling, declaring the sale invalid, the boy
asked the scribe who was writing the document, “How much does
this document cost?” He answered,“One zuz.” The boy expressed his
surprise, “The scroll of Esther costs one zuz and writing a document
costs as much!?” When he heard this Rava said,“This boy is no imbe-
cile, and as for his throwing the date pits in front of me he is highly
impertinent!” See there. In any event, we learn from that gemara that
a person who feels no embarrassment is considered an imbecile, and
this all the more true of this patient with Down Syndrome who mas-
turbates openly.

In Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim, 343) it says that there is no ob-
ligation to stop a deaf mute, an imbecile or a minor [who are exempt
from mitzvos] from eating non-slaughtered or terefah meat [i.e. any
non-kosher food] if they are doing so on their own initiative. Howev-
er, we are forbidden to feed them such food directly or to encourage
them to eat it or do anything else that the Torah prohibits.

In light of this, if we see a shoteh masturbating of his own accord
without anyone having encouraged him to do so, we are not obligated
to stop him. However under no circumstances whatsoever may we
instruct him or encourage him to engage in these actions. Anyone
who violates this transgresses a Torah prohibition and it is considered
exactly as though he fed the shoteh or minor non-kosher food. Con-
cerning this the Torah says,“Say to the kohanim, the sons of Aharon
and you shall say to them, he shall not become impure for the dead
among his people” (Vayikra 21:1). Noting the repetition of the verb
emor [“say” and “you shall say”], the Sages expound this as conveying
an admonition to adults regarding minors.

Even if it seems to us that we will ease his suffering by teaching

318 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein