200 Selected Reform Responsa

result in conception. These alone— not sexual perversions— do they permit. The statement of Rava(Sanhedrin 58b), taking for granted that an Israelite is permitted(“DeYisra-el shari”, see Tosafot and Mabharsha, ad loc.) to have intercourse with his wife shelo kedarkah is also to be understood in this sense; though from the phrase vedavak velo shelo kedarkah used in the amended saying of Rava it would appear that the term shelo kedarkah means bi-a mimakom acher. From a baraita in Yevamot 34b, we learn that during the period of lactation the husband is allowed, if not commanded, to practice coitus abruptus when having intercourse with his wife. The baraita reads as follows:“Kol esrim vearba-a chodesh dash mibifnim vezoreh mibachuts, divrei Rabbi Eli-ezer. Ameru lo,‘Halalu eino ela kema-aseh Er ve-Onan.’”(“During the twenty-four months in which his wife nurses, or should nurse, the child, the husband when having intercourse with her should, or may, practice coitus abruptus[to prevent her from becoming pregnant again; for in the latter eventuality she will not be able to continue nursing the child and the child might die as a result of an early weaning— Rashi, ad loc.:“Kedei shelo tit-aber vetigmol et benah veyamut” |. The other teachers, however, said to R. Eliezer that such intercourse would be almost like the acts of Er and Onan.") One may argue that this permission or recommendation of practicing coitus abruptus represents only the opinion of R. Eliezer, and we should decide against him, according to the principle yachid verabim halacha kerabim. But such an argument does not hold good in our case. In the first place, when the individual opinion has a good reason in its support(Demistaber taameih), as— according to Rashi— R. Eliezer's opinion in our case has, the decision may follow the individual against the many(see Alfasi and Asheri to B.B., chapter 1, end; and comp. Maleachi Cohn, Yad Mal-achi, 296). Secondly, we cannot here decide against R. Eliezer, since the other teachers do not express a definite opinion contrary to his. For we notice that the other teachers do not say,“It is forbidden to do so.” They do not even say