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The Pnei Moshe however permits borrowing from a Jew on inter-
est when the lender will anyway lend his money to another Jew on
interest. The Kesav Sofer (Yoreh De’ah, 83) rules in accordance with
this view. According to them it is not forbidden for a Jewish physi-
cian to help the non-Jewish woman abort her fetus [It should also
be taken into consideration that the gemara in Avodah Zarah (14a)
explains that it only directly facilitating a non-Jew’s transgression is
forbidden but not when the Jew only leads the non-Jew to the stage
before the actual transgression [lifnei d’lifnei]. However, the Pis’chei
Teshuvah (Yoreh De’ah 151:3) writes that if the transgressor is acting
as the facilitator’s emissary even this is forbidden.

As to advising the woman to approach another physician who will
perform an abortion – in a situation where even if he doesn’t give
her that advice, she will receive the same advice from another gentile
physician, it’s possible that even according to the Mishneh Lemelech
he is allowed to advise her in regard to obtaining an abortion, since
it is possible that a non is only forbidden to actually carry out an
abortion but not to give advice about obtaining one2 – this calls for
further reflection.

However, if without the Jewish physician’s advice the woman may
not abort her fetus at all, it’s possible that even according to the Pnei
Moshe and those who follow his view he must not advise as to how
to obtain an abortion.

Up to this point we have been discussing the question of lifnei iver
and have cited a disagreement among the poskim in this respect. We
shall now discuss whether it is a mitzvah for a Jew to rebuke a non-
Jew whom he sees sinning and dissuade him from doing so.

of him. There however, all that the director’s non Jewish replacement will be
doing is authorizing the abortion – which itself only amounts to lifnei iver,
which is not forbidden to a non Jew. In our case though, the non Jew who will
take the Jewish physician’s place will be performing the actual abortion, which
he is forbidden to do; here therefore we forbid the Jewish physician to enable the
woman to have an abortion.
2. Similar to authorizing an abortion, as explained earlier, in siman 286.

462 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein