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There is a medical condition known as "Uterus didelphys". Wikipedia describes it as follows:


This is understandably an extremely rare thing. However this raises the question, what would be the din in regards to pidyon haben. If a woman gave birth to a boy from one womb then at a different time gave birth to a boy that formed in the other womb, would the 2nd require a pidyon haben?

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sort of parallel judaism.stackexchange.com/q/22040/759 –  Double AA Dec 23 '13 at 21:48
Wouldn't it be determined who came out first regardless of two wombs? –  sam Dec 24 '13 at 4:31
I think the OP is basing himself on the phrase "peter rechem", so there is a valid doubt. –  Epicentre Dec 24 '13 at 6:41
Yea but by twins in the same womb it is determined by who comes out,classic case: Yaakov and Esav,see the Ketzos who explains Yaakov was the first in the womb,if I remember it correctly. –  sam Dec 24 '13 at 13:45
If they are in the same womb, then whoever comes out first is first out of that womb. The question is asking that the first child did not "exempt" the other womb and maybe it will have its own "exemption." You do not see that from a case of one womb. –  YeZ Jan 20 at 4:07

1 Answer 1

Someone asked this question online to Rabbi Yitzhak ben Yosef (posek and rabbi of Ramat Gan) here, and he responded as follows:

בהחלט שאלה נדירה ביותר. לכאורה כל תינוק הוא פטר רחם וצריכים שני הילדים פדיון צריך לבדוק האם הם פטר רחם דהיינו שלכול רחם יש פתח נפרד.

This is an extremely rare case. Seemingly, each infant is the"opener of the womb" and they both require pidyon. It would be necessary to check that each womb has a distinct opening in order for them to be peter rechem.

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I can't believe this has actually been asked to a posek +1 –  Daniel Feb 20 at 19:00
Can you provide some info for who Rabbi Yitzhak ben Yosef is? +1, well done. –  YeZ Feb 20 at 19:07
@Daniel I originally heard the question from a Rov who had been asked it on a theoretical level. I think it's common enough that it could indeed happen. –  Yehoshua Feb 20 at 23:21
Does he mean separate cervices or vaginae? I suspect the OP's case would only ever happen with two cervices, yet we can test that the Halachik requirement of Yatza Rosho seems to apply when the baby's head leaves the vagina as well (I don't have proof of this, but YD 305:22 sounds that way and it certainly would seem surprising otherwise). –  Double AA Aug 21 at 3:27
@DoubleAA, It certainly does sound like two cervices. Also, from the ways he says "צריך לבדוק" makes it sound like it's something that's not so easy to see externally, which I would imagine two vaginae would be, though I'm not so sure. –  jake Aug 21 at 18:31

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