IS VIAGRA KOSHER?

Michael Bader, a well respected San Francisco psycho-analyst and a member of the Board of Trustees of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue (a frequently published author in the pages of TIKKUN) has brought the following question to the community and hopes that Talmudic scholars might think more about it. Is it O.K. to take Viagra on Shabbat?

There are two differing schools of thought on whether you can take Viagra on Shabbat.

Beit Shammai forbids the ingestion of Viagra on Shabbat, lest one violates the infraction of erecting a structure (boneh)

Beit Hillel says do not read it as "boneh" but as "boner", and permits the ingestion of Viagra before sun-down so long as the Kabbalat Shabbat takes less than one half hour to complete, the kids are asleep, and your wife doesn't have a headache.

And what brucha does one say before taking the Viagra pill?

There is a choice of 4 blessings:

1-Borei p'ri ha eitz: Blessing over the fruit of the tree
2-Zoeif k'fuffim-straightens out those who are bent
 3-Va'aleh v'yavoh-arise and come
 4-Mechayei Hameitim-Raises the dead.