Page 435 - EFI-RAV ZILBERSTIN_VOL 8.EFI-RAV ZILBERSTIN_VOL 8.1A

Pg: 435 - 14-Back 21-10-31

fulfill this mitzvah it is permitted to sell a Torah scroll and
even to leave Eretz Yisrael. Tosfos in Gittin (41b) write that
this is a major mitzvah and that we compel the owner of
a Canaanite slave [who is part free] to transgress the pos-
itive mitzvah of “You shall enslave them forever” (Vayikra
25:46) and free the part slave so that he will be able to fulfill
this mitzvah.
5. It can be assumed that males who become pseudo females
will marry regular males, in violation of the Torah prohi-
bition of coming near to homosexual relations, because
they remain males in every respect, and cohabiting with
them is a homosexual act. Although cohabiting by way of
the newly [i.e. surgically] created opening is not actual ho-
mosexuality, coming close to it is considered coming close
to such relations. The Minchas Chinuch writes that this
involves violating the prohibition of “Do not approach [any
of the forbidden unions] for relations.” (ibid. 18:6)
6. A man who cohabits with a pseudo female also violates
the prohibition of emitting semen for naught, since this
is not the natural manner of having relations. There was
a case of a woman who was born with a mixture of male
and female reproductive organs Rachmana litzlan [may the
Merciful One spare us] and her status was that of an an-
droginos. The question was, was it permitted to surgically
remove her male organs and create an artificial opening so
that she could live as a female? My father-in-law Rav Y.S.
Elyashiv zt”l prohibited this too, on account of emitting
semen for naught. A man who cohabits with her would be
emitting semen for naught, which is known to be a terrible
sin, which was the sin of Er and Onan, who did “evil in
Hashem’s eyes,” (Bereishis 38:7) and Hashem killed them.2

It is written in Kiddushin (82b), “Happy is he whose sons are males

2. For more on the severity of this prohibition, see earlier, simanim 255 and 258.

Gender Change to Prevent Suicide 2 419