Generations, Marriage and Children

Torah Study 12/6/2008 Genesis 5 Rabbi Marder led

10 generations and very long life is detailed in a schematic style in Genesis Chapter 5. It is a distinct literary pattern.

Richard Friedman Commentary:

A perspective from 13th Century Spain: (____)
God is longsuffering – after 10 long generations came the flood. This is parallel to the exile and how difficult life is in Diaspora.

This perspective looks at the flood and finds comfort rather than destruction.

The genealogy from Seth To Noah
- the blessing of the gift of procreation
- commentaries of Eliazar : not having children is like shedding blood – man is in the image of God and not having children is like not propagating that image.

- Reform Jews changed this attitude and made procreation a more personal decision.
- Orthodox Jews consider it a mitzvah / obligation.
In fact it is the first mitzvah in Torah.

There was a lot of discussion about the different views on having children to continue the Jewish faith and community.

The Torah commands this of men and not of women. (women are in control of birth control)

The Torah commands us to do things that we would not do under ordinary circumstances.

The word “Zelem” in Hebrew for “formed” as in God’s image. The term is more relating to intellectual rather than physical image. However there are differing opinions on whether “image” is applied in physical form or not.

Interesting historical look at this concept:

Then the discussion turned to marriage and the fact that the purpose of marriage is not to have children. Eve was created as a “helper” and companion. In the 7 blessings in a wedding ceremony the emphasis is on ‘joy, gladness… good things’ but no mention of children.

The look at a complete Jewish family has changed over the years and even among the early rabbi’s:

We are told that an important dispute took place between the two leading and contesting schools of thought, the House of Hillel and the House of Shammai, over the question of how many children a man must have in order to fulfill the commandment to be fruitful. Shammai opts for two sons as fulfilling the obligation while Hillel talks of the need for one son and one daughter. There are those who will point to the fact that the “winning” opinion here is that of Hillel (as nearly always in such disputes!), in order to counter the charge of bias in favour of males. But in fact, the truth is very different. A society in which one of the two leading schools of opinion could side with such a strong preference for boys as the key to fulfilling the Halachic (legal) obligation, is a society where the issue is very much alive and kicking!

Book Reference:
The Jewish Way in Love and Marriage by Maurice Lamm
Reference to the Holocaust and our obligation to have children for survival and to replace those lost. Continuity of the community depends on having more children.

Responsa question :

QUESTION: Is it possible to have a valid Jewish marriage without children? Should a rabbi perform such a marriage when a couple specifically states that they plan to have no children? (Michael A. Robinson, Croton-on-Hudson, New York)

Official answer:

“In Jewish law, the marriage is valid, yet given the Reform emphasis on the underlying spirit of the law as a guide to modern practice, marriage without children is very distant from the Jewish ideal of marriage. The letter may permit it, but we must encourage every couple to have at least two children.”