Selected Reform Responsa 229

children(Nid. 31b, Vehainu de-amar Rav Katina:‘acholni la-asot kol benai zekharim.)

Informed by the same impression or conviction, another Babylonian Amora, Rava, declared that the immediate repetition of the act of coition, tending to retard the ejaculation of the male, could not but produce male children(ibid., amar rav harotse la-asot kol banav zecharim, yiv-ol veyishneh).

Various other methods, we find, were suggested. Thus, Rabbi fsaac is reported to have said that when the bedstead extended in a northerly-southerly direction the sex of the offspring would be male (Ber. 5b, kol hanoten mitato bein tsafon ledarom, havyin leih banim zecharim.).

And so, too, is Rabbi Johanan reported to have held that abstention from intercourse immediately before the menstrual period, would result in male issue(Shev. 18b, kol haporesh me-ishto samuch levistah, havyin lo banim zecharim). And, as if to disown the implication of the psychological basis for his statement, he proceeds to add that the scrupulous use of wine in the havdala ceremony will produce the same wished-for effect(ibid., ko/ hamavdil al hayayin bemotsa-ei shabbat havyin lo banim zecharim).

There is also the citation of an anonymous authority, which would make the determination of the sex of the offspring conditioned by the moral and social fitness of the union, as well as by the spirit in which the act of cohabitation is performed(Nida 70a,“Amar lahem ‘Visa isha hahogenet lo viykadesh atsmo bish-at tashmish’”).

Of course, all these suggestions partake more of the nature of magic than of pure science. But whatever the value of the methods suggested; they are certainly“moral, simple and safe,” even though not quite effective. Above all, they clearly indicate the rabbinic attitude toward the question raised The desire of parents to predetermine, if possible, the sex of their progeny, IS net 2 reprehensible desire. The objective sought is a legitimate objective. The issue then resolves itself into this: Will the absolutely reliable