Chapter 15 | Be Fruitful and Multiply

The most vitalizing and blessed action bestowed upon man from a Jewish perspective, is to be fruitful and multiply: “the world was only created to be fruitful and multiply, as it is stated (Isaiah 45) ‘[God] did not create chaos, he created it for dwelling’ ¹. The Sages added and instructed that even one who already has a son and daughter should continue to bring additional kids into this world ². Alongside this, from the perspective of ecological scientists, the most harmful action a person can do, more than flying in a plane, eating meat, or using disposable cutlery, is bringing an additional person into this world; one who will fly in a plane, eat meat, and use disposable cutlery themselves ³.

When the Sages encouraged people to increase their reproductive efforts the population of Earth was around a quarter of a billion people ⁴. Is this recommendation proper when the number is thirty or more times more than that ⁵?

Aside from the global environmental ramifications, such as greenhouse gas emissions and the consumption of resources, there are local environmental challenges that this demographic expansion brings to the State of Israel. In the Sefer ‘And the World Became Full’, the researcher Alon Tal demonstrates how the population increase involves the expression of noise, waste, and harm to animal farms in Israel, and brings with it many difficulties in the domains of transportation, housing, education, health, and others ⁶. It should be noted that despite this, the forecast of the ‘population boom’ and the call to limit having progeny as a result has already been made by the economist and demographer Robert Malthus at the end of the 18th century ⁷ and has been proven false with time in light of technological advancements.

The Halachic Discussion

If we accept the starting assumption, according to which a multitude of children causes harm to world settlement, then we have an interesting topic here that has not been approached properly in the environmental context: should one consider future risks when choosing to bring children into the world?

Two discussions in the gemara provide two contradictory answers to this question.

One discussion in Mesechet Berachot (10a) recounts how King Chizkiyahu avoided reproducing because he saw through divine intervention that he was destined to have unjust children (Menasheh). Yeshayahu the Prophet rebukes him for this and says: “Why are you engaging with the hidden chambers of God? You must do that which is determined of you, and that which the Holy One, Blessed Be He places before you – do it”. In other words, a person is responsible to be fruitful and multiply, without considering future ramifications that are the matters of God ⁸.

On the other hand, in Mesechet Bava Batra (60b), it is stated:

From the day that the evil kingdom [=the Romans] spread [over Israel] which enacts evil and harsh decrees and eliminates Torah and mitzvot from [the Jews]… logic would dictate that we should decree for ourselves not to marry a wife and have children, and we would see Avraham Avinu’s progeny wiped out themselves, however leave the Israelites be, it is best that they be negligent [by having children] than intentional” ⁹.

From this discussion it arises that one should take into account future dangers and not have children in a reality where it will be difficult to raise them by Torah and mitzvot properly ¹⁰.

Similar words were also written by Rabbi Sa’adiah Gaon:

“And I have seen it proper that the Creator has mercy to serve Him as He wishes… and [God] says, what benefit is there [in having children] if they will not have food, clothes, and shelter, and what good is it to raise them if they won’t have wisdom and knowledge? And what is His mercy and grace in absence of these things? Only additional sorrow for the fathers; and where is their dearness and honor, that He should expect things from them, when there is no introduction [to Jewish and physical matters]” ¹¹.

There are some commentaries and halachic authorities who differentiate between the basic obligation to fulfill the mitzvah of being fruitful and multiplying by having a son and a daughter, which is not dependent on the circumstances, and the (rabbinic) mitzvah to have additional children because of “and in the evening do not rest your hand ” (Kohelet 11:6) ¹². According to them, specifically regarding this addition there is room to add future considerations because of its purpose is “for you do not know which will be fit, this one or that”, and anyhow there is no reason to have children in a manner that will stunt their prosperity. And thus, many halachic authorities write that one who has a son and daughter can abstain from having additional children out of considerations such as: labor pains, suffering from raising children, shalom bayit, economic difficulties, and even educational factors ¹³. All the more so then one should take into account the dangers awaiting the world in an era where there will be a lack of resources and a risk of mass poverty and hunger. There is room to similarly interpret the directive of the Sages that a person should not cohabitate during times of famine ¹⁴

However, this is not clear cut ¹⁵. In light of this, it seems that there is fundamentally room to evaluate whether it is proper to implement this directive for our matters as well, reducing the fulfillment of the mitzvah “and in the evening do not rest your hand” in the era of population boom, as climate change that awaits us gets closer and more real.

However, at this point all of this is a theoretical discussion. In the current reality of the State of Israel and the Jewish nation there are additional considerations that we must take into account. First of all, the Jewish nation has not yet recovered from hundreds of years of exile, persecution, pogroms, and of course the holocaust, and dedicates its mission to becoming stronger and greater. This is also a security need required for prosperity in a hostile environment ¹⁶. Second, in the Western World there is a concerning drop in the birth rate, to the extent of an existential risk to certain countries such as Japan and South Korea, due to a flipping of the aging pyramid ¹⁷. The State of Israel, as a developed western country, is also part of this phenomenon, even if at a much lesser rate; and the decline in the growth rate goes hand in hand with finding solutions to the challenges of population density ¹⁸

Because of this, practically at this point one should not choose to have less children due to ecological factors ¹⁹. On the contrary, the State of Israel must continue to be a stellar example for Western society that believes in life and family, and that the human race is destined to protect the Tree of the Garden and add blessing to the world with its existence and not with its absence. if the cost and conditions of living change, this topic must be revisited again in the future.

In Practice

One should not limit the number of children they have due to ecological factors, both at the individual and public levels, but they should act so that they will be able to continue to have children while protecting the world and remaining committed to future generations.

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