The mitzvah of being fruitful and multiplying has occupied the rabbis on the last couple dappim. At the very end of yesterday’s daf TB Yevamot 63b they stressed the importance of procreating. “It is similarly taught in another baraita that Rabbi Eliezer says: Anyone who does not engage in the mitzva to be fruitful and multiply is considered as though he sheds blood, as it is stated: “Whoever sheds the blood of man,” and it is stated near it: “And you, be fruitful and multiply.” Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya says: It is as though he diminishes the Divine Image. Ben Azzai says: It is as though he both sheds blood and diminishes the Divine Image” (Sefaria.org translation)
We need to
remember that only men are commanded to procreate to understand the Mishna below.
The
Talmud gives two possible explanations for the opinion that women are not
obligated:
1)
When God said “be fruitful and multiply,” the verse continues “and fill the
world and conquer it.” Since men generally have a more aggressive nature
and are the ones who go out to war, the implication is that only men are
obligated to procreate and “conquer” the world.
2)
When God later blessed Jacob saying, “I am
the Almighty God; be fruitful and multiply;” he said it in the singular
and not in the plural, implying that the obligation applied only to Jacob, the
man.
Today’s daf TB Yevamot 64 discusses the ramifications of an infertile
couple. “MISHNA:
If a man married a woman and stayed with her for ten years and she
did not give birth, he is no longer permitted to neglect the mitzva
to be fruitful and multiply. Consequently, he must either divorce her and marry
someone else, or take another wife while still married to her. If he
divorced her she is permitted to marry another man, as it is not
necessarily on her account that she and her first husband did not have
children, and the second husband is permitted to stay with her
for ten years. And if she had a miscarriage, he counts the ten years from
the time of the miscarriage.”
(Sefaria.org translation)
Back then the husband had another
option besides divorcing his wife. Polygamy was permitted; consequently, he
could take another wife. That option is no longer available to us.
Nevertheless, we have options that the rabbis did not have. Let me share with
you Conservative Judaism’s approach
“Adoption has always been considered
a praiseworthy way to create a family. Indeed, the Jewish attitude has always
been that adoptive parents perform an act of great lovingkindness (g’milut
khesed) by providing a home for children in need. If the birth mother of a
child is not Jewish, adopted children must be converted to Judaism at the time
of adoption or soon after… If an adopted child is known unequivocally to have an
unambiguously Jewish birthmother, then conversion is not required.
“The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards
has also endorsed a range of medical approaches to infertility. Artificial
insemination was discussed favorably in a 1978 paper by Rabbi Morris Shapiro,
which argued that a man who donates sperm to a sperm bank for helping infertile
couples should be credited with having assisted them in the performance of the
mitzvah of procreation and not condemned for having ‘wasted’ his semen. In
1994, the Committee confirmed the permissibility of artificial insemination by
adopting a comprehensive paper written by Rabbi Elliot Dorff. Then, in 1995,
the committee also approved a paper by Rabbi Aaron Mackler permitting in vitro
fertilization. Overall, the committee has sought to lay the groundwork for
permitting a wide range of medical procedures designed to assist couples in
their effort to fulfill the commandment of p’riyyah u-r’viyyah, of procreation.”
(The Observant Life: The Wisdom of Conservative Judaism for Contemporary
Jews, pages 622-623)
The author of the chapter admits
that artificial insemination raises some quite complicated questions. I encourage
you to read this section Reproductive Issues (pages 621-625) and the section Infertility
(pages 787-789) form a more in depth discussion of these issues
No comments:
Post a Comment