LEV236 In a number of statements, the Talmud demonstrates how important having children is in Jewish thought. Without children, a person is considered dead (Nedarim 64b). The reason for this, according to Eliyahu Kitov (The Jew and His Home, trans. Nathan Bulman (New York: Shengold Publishers, 1963), pp. 200-201) is that a person can continue to live on even after physical life has ended through his or her children, if they continue the values and life-style of the parent (see the chapter "Purpose of Life"). One may never sell a Torah except in two instances: to obtain money in order to learn Torah (an equivalent mitzvah to having or writing a Torah] and to marry, that is, in order to eventually have children (Megillah 27a). [Compiler's note: Also, see Bava Batra 8b and later commentaries thereon regarding selling a Torah to redeem captives in order to save lives]. There is no other mitzvah that merits the importance of having children. One who does not have children is equated to a murderer one who diminishes the image of God (Yevamot 63b). This comparison may be understood since refusal to create life maybe compared to destroying (potential) life, and since each person is born in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), denying children to come into the world denies more of the image of God in the world. Of course, ultimately, all successful births of children are due to the help of God. Sometimes, for reasons unknown, parents who want children cannot do so, but if they try and are unsuccessful in their attempt to have children, they are blameless both in the eyes of Judaism and of God. Despite this lack of culpability, nevertheless, the inability to have children is grounds for divorce in Jewish law after ten years (Maimonides, Hilchot Ishut 15:10), in order to allow the spouses to remarry and bring children into the world. The Torah itself reverses one of the most stringent prohibitions of adultery in order to allow children to come into the world. Normally, he brother-in-law is forbidden to marry a sister-in-law and this is considered an act of adultery, even after the death of the spouse [this verse]. However, if the husband dies and a couple was childless, the Torah says (Deuteronomy 25:5-6) that it is mandatory for the brother-in-law to married the widow. This is one of the 613 commandments of the Torah--all for the purpose of having a child (See Sefer Hachinuch, Mitzvah #598). Having children is so important in Jewish life that immediately after death, when a person is judged in heaven, one of the first questions that person will be asked is "Did you involve yourself with having children?" (Shabbat 31a). This demonstrates the prominence that this act plays in Jewish belief.
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