Halakhah su Deuteronomio 23:2

From the perspective of Jewish law, severance of the vas deferens poses a serious problem with regard to the permissibility of resumption of marital relations. The verse "Lo yavo pezu'a daka u-kerut shafkhah be-kehal ha-Shem—He that hath wounded testicles or severed membrum shall not enter into the assembly of God" (Deuteronomy 23:2) constitutes a negative commandment prohibiting a person afflicted in this manner from engaging in sexual intercourse. The biblical terms ''pezu'a daka" and "kerut shafkhah" employed in formulating this prohibition are understood by the Gemara as denoting a mauled or severed membrum, testicle, or vas deferens. Thus Yevamot 75b declares: "Raba stated: 'Wounded' applies to all, 'crushed' applies to all and 'severed' applies to all. 'Wounded' applies to all, whether the membrum, the testes or the cords of the testes were wounded. 'Crushed' applies to all, whether the membrum, the testes or the cords of the testes were crushed. 'Severed' applies to all, whether the membrum, the testes or the cords of the testes were severed." Moreover, seclusion (yiḥud) of a male with a woman with whom intercourse is prohibited is forbidden even if the woman is his lawfully wedded wife (other than with his wife who is a niddah with whom intercourse is permitted subsequent to her immersion in a mikveh). Moreover, a kohen is forbidden to marry a woman who has consorted with a man who has been maimed in this manner.⁴See Rambam, Hilkhot Issurei Bi‘ah 18:3.

While the child of a non-Jewish father possesses merely undesirable lineage, sometimes one’s lineage poses a serious problem of actual illegitimacy. For example, the child of a woman’s second marriage faces concern for mamzeirut (illegitimacy) if his or her mother remarried without receiving a valid get (divorce document) from her first husband. Should the child indeed be a mamzeir, he or she may not marry anyone other than a fellow mamzeir or a convert. In many contemporary situations, though, poskim can permit the child to nevertheless marry because they determine that the mother’s first wedding did not meet halachic standards.¹⁵See our first volume (pp. 63-90) for a discussion of the halachic status of non-Orthodox marriages. As we repeatedly note in that discussion, one must make every effort to avoid such situations of possible mamzeirut by performing a proper get even when a civil court judge or Reform rabbi officiated at the wedding. In such situations, where one may marry only due to a lenient ruling of an eminent halachic authority, Rav Malkiel Tannenbaum (Teshuvot Divrei Malkiel 3:90) and Rav Eliezer Waldenberg (Teshuvot Tzitz Eliezer 7:48:5:15-17) require divulging the full background to any prospective mate. Since questions of mamzeirut often depend on disputed points in Halachah, a prospective spouse could reasonably hesitate to rely upon the same view as the poseik who ruled leniently in a particular case. Hence, one may not conceal such issues from a prospective mate.¹⁶See, however, the Steipler Rav’s aforementioned discussion of the Gemara in Yevamot. The Steipler Rav addresses a case involving a man who was permitted by prominent poskim to marry despite concern that he was a petzu’a daka (one with crushed testicles; see Devarim 23:2). The Steipler Rav focuses his discussion on whether the man must tell dating partners that this injury might affect his reproductive capabilities. Interestingly, though, he does not mention any obligation to tell the prospective bride that he could marry her only due to a lenient ruling (that he is not a petzu’a daka), perhaps implicitly disagreeing with the Divrei Malkiel and Tzitz Eliezer.

In a three-part article which appeared in Ha-Tzofeh (8 Tevet, 15 Tevet and 22 Tevet, 5743), Rabbi Shlomoh Goren attempts to define the phrase "at the hands of Heaven" in a rather novel manner. Rabbi Goren argues that the term "at the hands of Heaven" as employed in Sanhedrin 78a is to be understood in precisely the same manner as it is understood in the context of an entirely unrelated discussion recorded in Yevamot 75b. The Gemara, Yevamot 75b, states that, although Scripture declares that a person who has "wounded testicles" is forbidden to engage in sexual intercourse (Deuteronomy 23:2), the prohibition is limited to wounds suffered "at the hands of man." However, one who has been wounded "at the hands of Heaven" is not subject to this restriction. Rashi and Rosh define the term "at the hands of Heaven" as connoting injuries suffered as a result of "thunder or hail" or a condition which is the result of congenital anomaly. However, Rambam, Hilkhot Issurei Bi'ah 16:9, states that the concept of an injury sustained "at the hands of Heaven" also encompasses damage sustained as a result of any illness or physiological disorder. This position is accepted by Shulḥan Arukh, Even ha-Ezer 5:10. Rabbi Goren states:

That a eunuch not marry a daughter of Israel: That one whose sexual organs were damaged by the blow of a person or an animal or a tree - meaning to say, not at the hands of the Heavens - to the point that he cannot reproduce is prevented from marrying a daughter of Israel. And about this is it stated (Deuteronomy 23:1), "No one whose testes are crushed or whose member is cut off shall come into the congregation of the Lord."