Q&A: Shetuki
Shetuki
Question
A mother who became pregnant through a sperm donation, and she and the bank know the donor’s identity and declare that he is a gentile, but they are unwilling to reveal his name to the rabbinical judges—does the child have the status of a shetuki, or is there any lineage problem?
Answer
He is not a shetuki, because the law of a shetuki is fundamentally based on the concern that his father is a mamzer or otherwise disqualified with respect to his mother, and therefore he too would be a mamzer. Here there is no such concern, assuming the testimony that his father is a gentile is deemed credible.
Discussion on Answer
You have to know the reality. Even a gentile is believed when speaking innocently, or when they have no reason to undermine their own credibility. And certainly when it comes to a doubt concerning mamzer status, which is a rabbinic law, since by Torah law a doubtful mamzer is permitted.
The question is whether the testimony of the mother and the bank’s secular managers is sufficient to remove the concern of shetuki status.