Responsa sobre Génesis 9:6

On the other hand, however, there is room to forbid aborting a fetus or killing it based on that which is written in the Gemara: Any [Jew] who does not engage in being fruitful and multiplying is considered as though he sheds blood, as it is stated Whoever sheds the blood of man, etc. (Genesis 9:6) and it is stated [adjacent to it], And you, be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 9:7). […] Ben Azzai says, “It is as though he sheds blood and diminishes the Divine Image.” […] The Sages taught, “And when it rested, he would say, ‘Return, Lord, to the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel’ (Numbers 10:36). This teaches that the divine presence does not rest upon less than two thousands and two ten-thousands of the Jewish people. Consequently, if there were two thousands and two ten-thousands of the Jewish people, less one, and this man did not engage in being fruitful and multiplying, is he not found to have caused the divine presence to depart from the Jewish people?” (Yevamot 63b-64a) And if these words are said about someone who is not engaging in being fruitful and multiplying, who is not doing any actual action, all the more so [is it true] about someone who does an action that reduces the possibility of the existence and growth of a Jewish life! And there is no doubt that this was the intention of Tosafot, which we cited earlier, when they said that it is forbidden for a Jew to kill a fetus.

I wondered about a man made using Sefer Yetzirah, like the one about which it says in tractate Sanhedrin, "Rava created a man," (Sanhedrin 65b:17) and so too it was reported about my ancestor, the gaon our great teacher Rabbi Elijah, the head of the beit din of the holy community of Chelm — would it be included toward ten for things that require ten, like Kaddish and Kedusha? Do we say that because it is written "I shall be sanctified within the children of Israel" (Leviticus 22:32, see Mishneh Torah, Prayer and the Priestly Blessings 8:6) — it is not included? Or perhaps because we have in tractate Sanhedrin, "...one who raises an orphan within their house, the verse treats them as if they bore them" (Sanhedrin 19b:13), from the fact that it is written "'Michal's five children' (II Samuel 21:8) etc. Did Michal bear children? It was Meirav who bore children! Rather, Meirav bore them and Michal raised them, etc." — here too, because it is the handiwork of the righteous, it would be included in the children of Israel, because the handiwork of the righteous are themselves their progeny.

It seems to me that because we find that Rabbi Zeira said "You are from one of the group. Return to your dust!" thus he killed it, and if you think that it would have a benefit of being included in the ten for any davar shebikedusha Rabbi Zeira would not have made it pass from the world, because even if there would be no prohibition of spilling blood for it, because of how the verse specified (even if there are other interpretations): "Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall their blood be shed" (Genesis 9:6) — only a human who was formed within a human, as in a fetus formed in the womb of its mother, is one is liable for spilling their blood (see Sanhedrin 57b:5), which excludes that man who Rava created, who was not made in the womb of a woman, still, if it had a benefit, he should not have made it pass from the word, rather surely it is not included for the ten for any davar shebikedusha. So it seems to me, Zvi Ashkenazi S.T.