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even just acquiring her may be forbidden by rabbinical decree, in case
he has relations with her. It would therefore be rabbinically forbidden
for a kerus shufchah to contract a marriage, and it would no longer be
possible to allow the wedding to proceed. My father-in-law never-
theless considered permitting the violation of a rabbinic prohibition
in this case out of consideration of human dignity, owing to the
enormous embarrassment involved. (See also Shulchan Aruch, Orach
Chaim 339:4)

However, my father-in-law zt”l ultimately ruled that the wedding
could not be held, out of concern that he might not be able to control
himself and would seclude himself with her and sin. The wedding
therefore could not take place as planned. Tosfos (Yevamos 21a) re-
cord a similar ruling in a case that took place in Provence, of a person
whose meat had been slaughtered and his wine mixed in preparation
for his marriage to a woman who had previously been married to his
father-in-law, and Rabbenu Tam forbade even just the ceremony and
made him suffer the loss of the entire banquet.

The solution is therefore to try and repair the torn sperm ducts
and only once he is able to sire children will he be allowed to marry a
Jewish woman.

It is clear to us that Jewish physicians are not suspect of such prac-
tices, abetting fools who abandon every yoke in undergoing steriliza-
tion by severing the spermatic ducts, for they thereby violate several
Torah prohibitions: 1. It is forbidden for a person to injure himself
(Bava Kama 90b); 2. It is forbidden to mutilate the reproductive or-
gans of humans, domesticated or wild animals, or birds. Performing
sterilization incurs the penalty of lashes for transgressing a Torah
prohibition (Shulchan Aruch, Even Ha’ezer 5:11); 3. He is unable to
fulfill the mitzvah of procreation.

Happy are Jewish physicians who are occupied with building
Hakadosh baruch Hu’s world and not with destroying it!

480 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein