Contraception in Contemporary Orthodox Judaism

not necessarily reliable. It also obviously requires a good deal more
self-control than the other methods. It goes without saying that
‘wasted seed’ is not any concern with this method. The only relevant
issue of halacha is the man’s obligation of onah – to have marital
relations on the night the woman goes to the mikvah, which
frequently corresponds to the time of ovulation. As long as the man
has not fulfilled his mitzvah of procreation, the requirement of onah
stands. Once he has fulfilled that obligation, the clear halacha in the
Shulchan Aruch (Even Haezer 76:6) is that the woman can forgive him
this requirement. From then on, they are free to use the rhythm
method if they have some need to do so. Rav Moshe Feinstein wrote
this explicitly in a responsum from 1952 (Even Haezer 1:102) and
another from 1981 (Even Haezer 4:32:3). The need, he wrote, could be
the woman’s health, needs of other children, or even, he writes in the
later responsum, financial pressure 39 . He cautions in the latter case,
however, that trust in Hashem should outweigh any fears that they
won’t be able to support additional children.
In summation, the three final methods are essentially problem-free as
far as wasted seed is concerned, but clearly are not permitted carte
blanche. The basic objection is not one of halacha, but of hashkafa.
Contraception using these three methods comes under the nebulous
39Clearly, Rav Moshe did not equate the rhythm method with the pill as far as ‘outsmarting G-d’.
Perhaps, he reasoned that the rhythm method, unlike the pill, required a good deal of self-control in
the form of abstinence, so it was unlikely to present the same threat to Jewish continuity.
It is interesting that the very same question – the difference between the pill and the rhythm method
– circulated through the highest echelons of the Catholic Church during the mid to late-60’s. The
rhythm method had already been permitted and the pill was looked upon somewhat favorably up
until around 1964. In 1968, after years of internal debate, Pope Paul VI finally issued a famous
encyclical entitled Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life) forbidding the use of any ‘artificial’ method of
birth control. The essential difference, according to the Pope, was between ‘natural’ and ‘artificial’
means of achieving birth control. The pill, specifically, was seen as a means of separating sex from
procreation. This crucial separation, the Pope asserted, would lead to a breakdown in marriage, a
disrespect for women and their childbearing role, a devaluation of raising children, and a general
deterioration of social morality. Use of the ‘natural’ method, rhythm, would result in none of these
dangers. It is possible, but by no mean definite, that Rav Moshe had similar arguments in mind when
he expressed his misgivings about the pill.