Selected Reform Responsa 201
that it is Onanism . They merely say:“It is almost like the conduct of Er and Onan.” This certainly is not a strong and definite opposition to R. Eliezer's opinion. It seems to me that even the other teachers did not forbid the practice under the circumstances. They merely refused to recommend it as R. Eliezer did, because they hesitated to recommend a practice which is so much like the acts of Er and Onan, even under circumstances which made it imperative that conception be prevented. And we have to understand R. Eliezer's opinion as making it obligatory for the husband to perform coitus abruptus during the period of lactation.
That this interpretation of the respective positions of R. Eliezer and the other teachers in our baraita is correct will be confirmed by our consideration of another baraita dealing with the question of using contraceptives. This other baraita is found in Yevamot 12b, 100b; Ketubot 35b; and Nida 45b. It reads as follows:“Tanei Rabbi Bibi kameih deRav Nachman: Shalosh nashim meshameshot bemoch--ketana, me-uberet umeinika. Ketana, shema tit-aber vetamut; me-uberet, shema ta-aseh ubarah sandal; meinika, shema tigmol benah veyamut. Ve-eizo hi ketana? Mibat 11 shanim. veyom echad ad 12 shanim veyom echad; pachot mikan veyoter al ken meshameshet kedarkah veholechet. Divrei Rabbi Me-ir. Vachachamim omerim: Achat zo ve-achat zo meshameshet kedarkah veholechet, umin hashamayim yerachamu, mishum, shene-emar shomer peta-im Adonai”:
Before we proceed to interpret this baraita, we must ascertain the correct meaning of the phrase meshameshot bemoch, as there are different interpretations given to it. According to Rashi(Yevamot 12b), it means putting cotton or other absorbent into the vagina before the cohabitation, so the semen discharged during cohabitation will fall upon the cotton and be absorbed by it and conception will not take place. According to R. Jacob Tam(Tosafot ibid., s.v.“Veshalosh nashim™), however it means using the cotton(or the absorbent) after the act of cohabitation in order to remove the semen and thus prevent