SELECTED REFORM RESPONSA

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 rava'harotzeh laasot banav zekharim, yivol veyishneh™).

Various other methods, we find, were suggested. Thus, Rabbi Isaac 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 tzafon ledarom, havyin leih banim zekharim.").

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 meishto samuh levistah, havyin lo banim zekharim."). 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 havdalah ceremony will produce the same wished-for effect (ibid.,"Kol hamavdil al hayayin bemotsaei Shabbat, havyin lo banim zecharim").

There is also the citation of an anonymous authority, which would make the determination of the ex 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(Nidah 70a,"Amar lahem: Yisa isha hahogenet lo viykadesh atzmo bishat 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 not a reprehensible desire. The objective sought is 2 legitimate objective. The issue then resolves itself into this: Will the absolutely reliable method anticipated, though not too hopefully, by the author of the question, be as moral, as simple, and as safe as those projected by the early

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