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References to halacha and chizuk for pru urvu

Question:

Can the Rav point us in some direction on how to get more clarity about the mailah of having more children (after one boy and one girl)?
Are there any sforim that the Rav can recommend that provide halachic understanding and hashkafic chizuk for the mitzvah of having children? Are there mekoros that can help a person reach a clarity that it is ratzon Hashem to have more children, even if limud hatorah or other avodos would (seemingly, but of course not necessarily) be hindered.

 

Answer:

Thank you for your question.

Your question is an important one. Although a person that already has a boy and a girl has fulfilled the mitzva d’orayso of having children, there is still a rabbinic mitzva, to have more children, and it isn’t merely a mailah, rather a Rabbinical obligation. Yes, it is less stringent of an obligation, and when it is needed there, times when one can abstain from having children after being mekayem pru urvu, however having more children is a d’rabonon.

I am attaching a few pages of a sefer that talks about this. Having more than two children

From a hashkafic angle, it is Hashem’s will that the world be populated, especially with Jews who will do mitzvos and bring a kiddush Hashem. This is the reason Hashem created the world, and the more children we have the more kavod shomayim we are causing. Aside from this, every child that is born, is not just one child, but 10,000 children. Dan, the son Yackov, had only one son, who was deaf! Nevertheless, in Parshas Bamidbar, when the Jews were counted this one deaf son, had a shevet of 62,700 men descendants between the age of 20-60. Meaning that if we will multiply it by women, plus boys and girls under 20 and men and women over 60, we have to times that number by 4, which is 250,800… all from one deaf child! Can we imagine how many mitzvos are to the merit of this deaf man’s parents, who had him and raised him, even though at first glance it didn’t look like he would be much of a success. How many brachos were said to Hashem from this child? How many minutes of torah learning, acts of chesed? How many Shabbossos and Yomim Tovim were kept? The merit to his parents is just unfathomable in magnitude! Therefore, each child that we merit to bring into the world, is not just one child, but a whole world! Yes, it is true, that for a number of years, it is hard for the parents. They must invest a lot of money, physical and emotional energy into raising each child. But the difficulty doesn’t last forever What does last forever is the ever-rising return on their investment in Hashem’s world, and their reward will just keep on getting bigger and bigger as time goes on.

People are willing to work long hard hours at their job, in order to put away extra money so they can invest it and reap the profits of this extra money that they invested. Investing in a having more children, gives a return that is far greater than the money in the bank. It is an investment in olam haba, that keeps on multiplying (pun intended).

Best wishes

Sources:

רמב"ם הלכות אישות פרק טו הלכה טז" אף על פי שקיים אדם מצות פריה ורביה הרי הוא מצווה מדברי סופרים שלא יבטל מלפרות ולרבות כל זמן שיש בו כח, שכל המוסיף נפש אחת בישראל כאילו בנה עולם"

 

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