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beis hamedrash in Amsterdam and asked whether he was allowed to
drink the milk of a she-ass in order to save the life of his father who
was refusing to drink it. The scholars told him that he was forbidden
to drink it because Torah law obligated his father to drink the ass’s
milk and if his father refused, the son was not allowed to commit a
sin in order to save his father who was intentionally refusing a cure1.
On the face of it in our case too, the rabbi conducting the marriage
ceremony may not sin by reciting the Sheva Brachos [the‘seven bless-
ings’ recited in celebration of a Jewish wedding] because of the girl’s
obstinate intention to sin.
However the two cases are not at all similar, because we are telling
the rabbi to recite the blessings in vain in order to save the fetus, which
is an anuss and is unable to save his own life in any other way, and the
fetus has not sinned. We are therefore obligated to save it despite the
falsehood and the blessings in vain that are involved.
I presented the question and its proposed solution to my father-
in-law, Rav Y.S. Elyashiv zt”l, and he didn’t agree to this solution for
two reasons:
1. The rabbi conducting the marriage may not violate To-
rah prohibitions of reciting blessings in vain because of
threats. Consider: if a person demands that his colleague
desecrate Shabbos otherwise he will commit suicide, will
we desecrate Shabbos to save his life?! It is a major To-
rah principle that we do not submit to threats. Although
in this case she is threatening to abort the fetus, further
deliberation is required in order to decide whether to give
in to her threat and under what circumstances this may be
done.
[On the topic of how much credence to attach to threats,]
see the Chafetz Chaim (Rechilus 9:3) who writes: “If a per-
son hears Reuven threaten to harm Shimon, then if Reuven
1. See further, siman 281 [the first case] where the view of the scholars of Etz
Chaim and the Melemed Leho’il is explained at length.
Lying to Prevent Abortion 2 339
