Q&A: Is It Moral to Have a Child at Age 88?
Is It Moral to Have a Child at Age 88?
Question
Hello Rabbi,
In recent days it was publicized that a yeshiva head fathered a firstborn son at age 88, and his wife is in her fifties-plus.
Is it morally right to bring a child into the world who presumably will not have many years of parental upbringing? To note, life expectancy for men in Israel stands at 82.7.
https://www.kikar.co.il/yeshiva-world/sa4ll2
Answer
Good question. Even during the years they will be alive, it is not clear how much strength they will have for him.
Discussion on Answer
Interfering in another person’s life is not moral; the decision of a stranger to bring a child into the world should not concern anyone.
I didn’t understand why the answer here is different from the answer to a similar question here:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%a1%d7%a8-23/
It isn’t different. Here I answered briefly that it’s a good question. There really is room to discuss it. There I said that this case is no different from a single mother. In both cases it is clear that these are not ideal circumstances for the child; on the other hand, it is hard to determine categorically that it is immoral.
Has he already finished his obligation of the first commandment in the Torah, “be fruitful and multiply”?!
A good question is whether that even matters. Is a person allowed to fulfill his commandment at someone else’s expense?
If the Torah commanded him, then apparently he is indeed obligated.
So if the Torah commanded you to take your lulav and you don’t have money, is it permissible for you to steal in order to buy a lulav?
If the Torah commanded Sabbath observance and it bothers your wife, etc.?
Why is this a good question? After all, in the end a person brings a child into the world to satisfy his own personal or animalistic needs, not the child’s needs, since it may be that it would be better for the child not to exist at all.
After all, we wouldn’t ask whether it is moral for an ugly or stupid or annoying person to have children.