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to physically injure himself in order to fulfill a mitzvah.
The Igros Moshe writes too (Orach Chaim 3,96) that a per-
son has no obligation to receive injections or to otherwise
injure himself so that he will be able to fast on Yom Kippur
and there is concern that by doing so he may violate the
prohibition of injuring himself. If a person is under no
obligation to cause himself physical injury in order to fast
on Yom Kippur or to ascend to the Beis Hamikdash on
festivals, all the more should he refrain from this for the
sake of vanities and idiocies.

We also learn in Bava Basra (126b), “If a person stip-
ulates upon contracting marriage that he shall be exempt
from the mitzvah of onah [his obligation to conduct mar-
ital relations] the marriage bond is valid but his condition
is null and void, because the Torah writes,“her sustenance,
clothing and onah he shall not diminish,” (Shemos 21: 10)
and even if the woman is prepared to forego her entitle-
ment, the Torah is not, because it is particular about a Jew’s
physical pain and a person does not own his body, such
that he is allowed to needlessly injure himself or cause
himself pain.
4. In consequence of becoming castrates they will be annul-
ling the first mitzvah in the Torah – the mitzvah of procre-
ation – for the rest of their lives. I saw in the sefer Piku’ach
Nefesh that the author shows from Tosfos in Shabbos
(110b) that even a patient suffering from the illness yarko-
na must not drink the cup of roots [a sterilizing potion],
which cures his condition, if as a result he will annul the
mitzvah of procreation. This is a highly novel ruling.

In Shaarei De’ah the author writes that a man whose
wife demands a large sum of money from him in return for
agreeing to accept a divorce [ever since Rabbenu Gershom’s
ban, a man can only divorce his wife with her consent],
must pay her up to a fifth of his assets so that he is able [to
remarry and] fulfill the mitzvah of procreation. In order to

418 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein