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who had a thread tied around his male organ as a child and it became
swollen. After the physician had healed him with a dressing he was
left with a deep cleavage [indentation] running across the entire organ
up to the tip of the corona towards the body, though this cleavage did
not reach the opening at the tip of the organ [the urethral opening]
and they allowed him to marry a Jewish girl. Does he have to tell his
bride that he was only permitted to marry because of his dire need,
for she is not in the same dire situation for she could marry someone
else, and furthermore, perhaps he will be unable to sire children? The
DivreI Malkiel writes that she is allowed to marry him even though
she is not in a situation of such urgency, because it is a great mitzvah
to marry and for this reason a master is compelled to free his slave
who is a half slave and half free, so that he will be able to marry (as
explained in maseches Gittin 41), and in our case too it is a mitzvah to
provide him with a wife in order to save him from sin.

However, we must still be concerned that he may need to inform
the woman because of the uncertainty over whether he will be able to
sire children and it is obvious that if this became known, he would not
find another woman willing to marry him. The Divrei Malkiel there-
fore advises him to consult a physician and if the physician says that
he will be able to sire children he can rely on that and does not have
to inform her. Although we do not rely on the opinions of physicians
in regard to violating prohibitions, in regard to deception it is possible
that we will rely on the physicians because it is common practice to
rely on the physicians’ opinion in this area. [In Hilchos Mechirah 15,5,
it is clear from the Rambam that if there is a consensus among the
people of the country that a certain blemish is a defect on account of
which one can retract from an item’s sale, the item can be returned, for
this depends upon the consensus among the people of the country.]

[However,] while all the above may perhaps do away with the
concern of acting fraudulently and deceitfully, all the other concerns
mentioned above remain valid.

80 1 Medical-Halachic Responsa of Rav Zilberstein