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considered guilty of suicide but had he been unlearned and believed
that he would be sinning by drinking the milk, he would not be con-
sidered a suicide and the son would be allowed to drink the milk.]
It is further written there, “I searched high and low throughout ‘the
Sea of the Talmud’ and didn’t find a single Tanna, Amora or halachic
authority who introduces such a hugely novel ruling [that the son is
allowed to drink]. On the contrary, they uttered the decree, ‘Do we
tell a person to sin so that his colleague will benefit?! (Shabbos 4a)....’”
The final conclusion is that under no circumstances can the son be
permitted to drink the milk.

We can learn from these comments that in our case, since the
young woman has an obligation to complete her pregnancy and give
birth to the child, we may not violate the sin of killing fetuses in order
to save her from suicide.

We find a similar question in Teshuvos Melemed Leho’il (1, 61), con-
cerning a young man whose father instructed him to participate in a
writing class in a trade school on the holy day of Shabbos. The son
refused. His mother told him that if didn’t obey his father’s instruc-
tions, resulting in discord in the house, she would put an end to her
life. The son asked whether he had to listen to his father on account
of his mother’s piku’ach nefesh.

The answer is that this is not a situation of piku’ach nefesh in which
Shabbos is desecrated since the mother is deliberately choosing to
commit suicide in order to get her son to violate his faith. Were we
to concede to such demands, all seducers would threaten to throw
themselves into the ocean if others did not consent to their seduc-
tion. See Teshuvos Yehudah Ya’aleh (Even Ha’ezer 140) who writes
that a woman who has done chalitzah may not be allowed to marry a
kohen even if there are grounds for concern that the couple may apos-
tatize [which is more serious than losing their lives] if not permitted
to marry. All the more so is it forbidden to allow Shabbos desecration
out of concern for suicide. In our case too then, this is not considered
piku’ach nefesh that allows the violation of Torah prohibitions.

However, the actual argument employed by the Etz Chaim and
Melemed Leho’il requires explanation. It is evident from Rashi in

356 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein