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cian to perform an abortion, even on a non-Jewish woman.
Advising a woman to have an abortion is also forbidden,
unless the non-Jewish woman is in danger.
3. It is forbidden for even a non-Jew to cut any man’s – even a
non-Jew’s – spermatic ducts, thereby sterilizing him.



A Jewish Physician’s Hands are Trained to Save

Life and to Heal, not to Harm Humankind

Question: There was a case involving a ba’al teshuvah who was about
to marry a Jewish woman. Two days before the wedding he realized
that he needed to ask a question, after he found out that he was for-
bidden to marry into the Jewish community, for previously when he
had lived as a fool in abandonment of any yoke he had undergone
sterilization at the hand of a physician who had cut his spermatic
ducts, rendering him a kerus shufchah. His father had invited a large
crowd to the wedding and was stunned when he learned of the situa-
tion; he came to ask my father-in-law Rav Y.S. Elyashiv zt”l, whether
Torah law permitted holding the wedding.

Response: My father-in-law initially considered instructing the
groom to acquire the bride in marriage but not seclude himself with
her, and in the meantime to approach a certain well known specialist
and ask that he attempt to mend the torn tissues – thus enabling
him to sire children and again be permitted to marry into the Jewish
community – only after which he would be allowed to be secluded
with his bride. This would be permitted because the Torah does not
forbid a kerus shufchah from acquiring a Jewish woman in marriage
but only from having relations with her subsequently [as explained by
the Rambam in Hilchos Issurei Bi’ah 16:1]. The marriage ceremony of
kiddushin and chuppah alone would therefore be permitted.

However, it is apparent in Tosfos (Yevamos 10a, s.v. l’rebbi) that

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