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to the daughter [by Torah law], merely by a decree enacted by the
beis din of Shem as explained by the Rema and the Taz (Yoreh De’ah
157:1), she must still not offer herself for a less stringent sin which she
is not being compelled to transgress.

However, since this would lead to her mother and father becoming
very severely depressed [and the comment quoted in the name of the
gaon, Rav Chaim of Brisk, that losing one’s sanity is tantamount to
piku’ach nefesh2 and particularly if they are cardiac patients, is well
known], we should consider whether this act can be considered sav-
ing a life and thus permitted.

Now, we find in the Knesses Hagedolah (Yoreh De’ah 157, cited by
Darkei Teshuvah 157:59): “If non-Jews tell Jewish women,‘Hand one
of you over and we will defile her [or we will defile you all],’ they
should all be defiled rather than handing over a single Jewish soul
(Rema ibid., quoting the Rambam,) and they should not even hand
over an unmarried girl in order to save a married woman. However,
while it is forbidden to hand one of them over, if one of the women
wants to go to the non-Jews [in order to save all the others], we do
not protest.”

The Shevus Yaakov (2,117), discusses the case of a group of Jews,
among whom was a married couple, who were walking when they
were accosted by murderers, who, when the Jews pleaded for their
lives, would not listen. The woman thereupon offered herself, with
the consent of her Jewish husband, for relations, and thereby saved
them all from death. The husband now wanted to know whether his
wife was permitted to him, for she was an anussah, having acted under
the threat of murder and a Yisrael’s wife who was forcibly violated
is still permitted to her husband, or would it be better that he dis-
continue living with her? The Shevus Yaakov responded: “Even if she
had relations without there having been a trace of sinfulness in her
act, for she did so in order to save all of Yisrael, as did Yael and as
did Esther, [who offered herself to Achashveirosh when he had not

2. See earlier, at the end of siman 224.

Sinning to Relieve Tension 2 429