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that if the ruler tells a person, “Let me sever one of your
limbs, otherwise I will kill your colleague,” he must allow
him to cut off a limb. However, the Pis’chei Teshuvah
(ibid.,15) cites the view of Radvaz that he need not consent
to this in order to save his colleague,3 though the Radvaz
also agrees that there is an obligation to suffer deep fright
in order to save him.

[4] The Torah instructs “They shall bring out the young
woman to the entrance to her father’s house… for she has
behaved shamefully among Yisrael by committing adultery
in her father’s house” (Devarim 22:21). Rashi explains that
putting the young woman to death in front of her parents’
home sends them the message, “See the product of your
upbringing.” In other words, the parents are also blame-
worthy for their daughter’s conduct. In our case too they
deserve to bear their share of the guilt by enduring this
fright and the physician [who engineered this removal of
the mother’s suicide threat] acted properly.

ɳ Summary and Conclusions

1. The mother’s suicide threat should not be surrendered to
and it is forbidden to abort the fetus.

2. It is permitted to scare the parents to get them to remove
their opposition to their daughter’s marriage.

3. It is forbidden to stage a deceitful marriage ceremony
[by designating invalid witnesses] in order to prevent an
abortion, and there should be concern about this leading to
desecration of Heaven’s Name. Everything possible should

3. See our lengthy discussion of this topic earlier, siman 129: ‘Must a Person En-
dure Pain and Donate his Blood in Order to Save another Person’s Life?’

348 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein