GEN152 Man is charged with completing the task of creation that God began in the first commandment.  The world was intentionally made incomplete and was left up to man to complete.  That is why God did not create “bread trees,” even though every society needs and uses a form of bread.  It is man’s role to perform the creative activities necessary to make bread. Midrash, Tanchuma Tazria 5.  AMEMEI 267

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GEN153 The mitzvah of begetting children devolves upon the man and not upon the woman, for it is written: “And subdue it” [vekivshuhah]. It is written defective [without the vav after the shin, implying that only one is being addressed.] Who is a “subduer”? Man and not woman. Yevamot 65b TEMIMAH-GEN 11

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GEN154 The family creates, educates, and supports the next-generation. Sex within marriage has two distinct purposes: companionship and procreation. Thus, on the one hand, sexual relations are valued as a form of human love even when the couple cannot or is not planning to have children.  On the other hand, procreation is an important activity, so important, in fact, that it is the very first commandment mentioned in the Torah [this verse]. The rabbis later defined that obligation as the duty to produce minimally one boy and one girl—although this does not apply to those who cannot comply because of problems of infertility—and the ideal is to have as many children as one can.  On the minimum of two, see M. Yevamot 6:6 (61b); M.T. Laws of Marriage 15:4; and S.A. Even Ha’ezer 1:5. On the ideal of having more, see B. Yevamot 62b (based on Isaiah 45:18 and Ecclesiastes 11:6) and M.T. Laws of Marriage 15:16. Marriage not only provides the venue for having children but also, in the Jewish view, the context in which children are educated. Parents have the duty to educate their children in Judaism, including its moral components. Deuteronomy 6:7,20-25, 11:19. This was already one of Abraham’s duties Genesis 18:19.  Parents may use schools to help them fulfill that duty, but they must periodically check to make sure that the children are in fact learning what they should, because ultimately the duty to educate children remains theirs. Moreover, much of the Jewish tradition can be taught only at home, for this is a tradition that is not restricted to the synagogue or school: It intends to influence virtually every detail of life. DORFFLOV 27-8

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GEN157 The Jewish tradition sees two primary purposes for sex within marriage, as evidenced by the two commands in the Torah to engage in sex. One appears in Exodus 21[p:10], where the Torah says, at least as the Talmud understood it, that a man taking a woman in marriage must not deprive her of “her food, clothing, or conjugal rights.”  The other appears in the very first chapter of Genesis, in which God tells the first man and woman to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” [this verse].  Thus companionship and procreation are the two divinely ordained purposes of sex within marriage. Moreover, these are independent commandments. Thus before, during, and after the years that a couple plans to have children, the duty to have conjugal relations for the sake of companionship continues. God’s desire, according to the Torah and Talmud, is that people should, if at all possible, live in marital partnership, regardless of their ability to procreate. B. Yevamot 61b, where Rabbi Nahman, quoting Genesis 2:18, asserts that “although a man may have many children, he must not remain without a wife, for the Torah says, ‘It is not good that a man should be alone.’” Later Jewish law codes take this as authoritative law; see M.T. Laws of Marriage 15:16; Laws of Forbidden Intercourse 21:26; and S.A. Even Ha’ezer 1:8. DORFFLOV 82

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GEN155 As late as 1970, all American states except Nevada required that a divorcing couple justify their divorce as a response to adultery, insanity, imprisonment, or some other communally accepted reason for the couple to separate. In contrast, the covenantal nature of Jewish marriage had enabled couples to divorce simply for “irreconcilable differences” almost 2,000 years earlier.  Furthermore, the covenantal character of Jewish marriage enables the couple to create special conditions for their marriage, usually regarding the monetary arrangements between them, but sometimes also other matters. The only condition Jewish law forbids the couple to make with each other is to promise never to engage in conjugal relations, because the Rabbis construe sexual intercourse to be the defining characteristic that distinguishes marriage from other close relationships. After they have produced both the male and a female child to fulfill the Torah’s commandment, “Be fruitful and multiply” [this verse], they may mutually decide never to have sex again, but they may not put that decision into their marriage covenant. Nowadays, couples—especially those where one member brings much more money into the marriage than the other, or where there are children or property from a prior marriage—often create a prenuptial agreement that can be very specific about certain matters. This, however, is a relatively new phenomenon in Anglo-American law. Jewish law provided for such mutually agreed-upon conditions to a marriage from as early as the second century Mishnah as a manifestation of the covenantal character of Jewish marriage.  DORFFWITO 173-4

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GEN156 Is the duty of procreation binding on women or only on men?  … The answer … is given in an ancient Mishnah: Yevamot 55b: “A man is commanded concerning fruitfulness and multiplication, but not a woman: Rabbi Yahanan ben Beroka said, “Concerning both of them it is said: ‘Male and female He created them; God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and master it.’ [this and preceding verse].  The Gemara immediately raises the question: How do the Sages (who disagree with Rabbi Yohanan ben Beroka) cope with the text in Genesis which seems to imply that the commandment to be fruitful applies to male and female alike? The answer given is that the Sages hold that the duty of procreation applies to the male sex, because the Biblical text is speaking of activities that require bold ness and aggressiveness. Mastering the earth is a masculine activity, since it involves prowess and relentless expenditure of physical energy. All activities included in the text are associated with mastery of the earth. Hence, they are regarded as functions of masculinity. The opinion of the Sages is based on the view generally accepted in civilized societies that it is man who seeks out the woman and not vice versa. Some degree of aggressiveness is required in seeking out a mate, a quality that is not in harmony with the essential or ideal character of woman.  Rabbi Levi ben Gershom (Gersonides) commentary to Genesis. The Talmud phrases it in a somewhat different manner: Why is it written: “When a man will take a wife,” and not vice versa: “When a woman will be taken by a man”? Because normally a man seeks after a wife and it is not normal for a woman to seek after a husband; whoever loses an article goes out in search for it. Kiddushin 2b. Text in Deuteronomy 22:13. [The institution of shadkhanut developed in Jewish life testifies to the extent of modesty achieved by our people, that even young men were not possessed of the aggressiveness required to seek out a mate. The right of the father to betroth his minor daughter Ketubot 45b may have similar grounds].  [See also Genesis 9:7 fruitful ROSNER 64, ROSNER 65]

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GEN158 The morality (or immorality) of contraception boils down to two-sided argument.  On the one hand, many people claim that there is no moral difference between preventing the natural process of conception by contraception and preventing the natural process of obesity by diet or pills. On the other hand, traditional Judaic-Christian teaching maintains that by the mind and will of God there is an objective standard of right and wrong in the universe, and that men are possessed with the rational faculty to choose one or the other. Thus, if the Torah considers any interference with the act of procreation as morally wrong, then such interference is legally prohibited in Jewish law. The commandment of be fruitful and multiply [this verse] interdicts the indiscriminate use of contraceptives. … The economic argument for contraception emphasizes that parents should only have the number of children they can support in an adequate fashion. This argument possesses its greatest strength and appeal when it is applied to large families with below-average income. That some good man be derived from contraception employed for economical reasons does not, however, make such a practice morally right. In order that all children in a family be provided with adequate food, clothing, shelter and education, contraception may be no more morally justified than robbery by the parents to provide for the needs of the children. Robbery and contraception are both immoral, although both might achieve a desirable outcome. The solution to the economic argument for contraception is a better organization of society, with sufficient work and distribution of wealth for all. ROSNER 86-7

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GEN164 See [[GEN663]] Genesis 9:2,3 given AMEMEI 9

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GEN162 A few verses later Genesis 2:15 the Torah tempers this by telling us that God put man in the Garden (symbolic of the entire world) “to work it and to guard it.”  Since guarding something means preserving it, God essentially wants man to both use the world of his needs, but, at the same time, to preserve the world and not destroy it. AMEMEI 61

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GEN168 The Torah clearly establishes the relationship between man and animal.  Man is to rule over and dominate the fish, birds, and all animals in the world.  Later on, after the flood, this relationship is spelled out even more clearly, as God tells man that the animals will fear man, and all creatures have been given over into man’s hands.  Genesis 9:2. AMEMEI 9 

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