Q&A: Can the Commandment of Be Fruitful and Multiply Be Negated?
Can the Commandment of Be Fruitful and Multiply Be Negated?
Question
Have a good week, Rabbi,
Is it possible, in your opinion, to negate the commandment of be fruitful and multiply? Seemingly, even if a person delays for a long time, the time for the commandment has still not passed and he can still fulfill it. And even if he dies before fulfilling the commandment, death is considered coercion beyond his control, so there is no negation of a positive commandment here—just as a person who dies at 10 at night before reciting the evening Shema is not considered to have negated the positive commandment of Shema, but rather to have been prevented by circumstances beyond his control. According to this, one could define the commandment of be fruitful and multiply as a purely existential commandment, since it can only be fulfilled and not negated. Or perhaps it can be negated through positive action—for example, if a person commits suicide or undergoes an irreversible sterilization procedure before fulfilling the commandment of be fruitful and multiply.
Answer
This can be discussed from several angles. First, regarding circumcision, there is a negation of a positive commandment at every moment one delays, and perhaps one could say the same about be fruitful and multiply.
Second, there is a distinction between merely neglecting it and actively nullifying it, when a person does something with his own hands to prevent it. Those are the examples you mentioned.
Third, there is a dispute among the medieval authorities (Rishonim) regarding “coercion on the last day,” when a person postpones a commandment and in the end is prevented by circumstances beyond his control and does not perform it.
https://www.yeshiva.org.il/midrash/38383
This is especially true when, at the time of the postponement, he should have been concerned that his fertile years might pass (even before death). For example, when delaying the afternoon prayer, it is common for people to postpone because they are used to praying in a later prayer quorum, and then it is not expected that the prayer will ultimately be missed.
Discussion on Answer
Regarding the negation of a positive commandment at every moment one delays, I came across Maimonides, from whom it seems that delaying a positive commandment does not involve negation:
Laws of First Fruits 12:6: “From when is one obligated to redeem it” (this is speaking about a firstborn donkey)? “From when it is born until thirty days. And after thirty days—if he wishes to break its neck, he may break its neck; and if he wishes to redeem it, he redeems it. And here there is only delay of the commandment.”
That is, someone who redeems his donkey on day 100 and not on day 15, say—even though there was a delay of the commandment of redemption here—there is only delay of the commandment here (and not negation of a positive commandment at every moment). As for circumcision, perhaps there is a special discussion there because it has a defined time (on the eighth day), so someone who did not circumcise on the eighth day is required to get as close as possible to circumcising on the eighth day (circumcision on day 9 is preferable to day 10 because 9 is closer to 8 than 10 is). But regarding be fruitful and multiply, it seems more apt to compare it to redemption of a firstborn donkey, in the sense that both are positive commandments without a defined time (unlike circumcision).
That is when in the end he fulfilled the commandment. But if his postponement ultimately led to the commandment being nullified, it is possible that at every moment he postponed it he was negating it.
There are 8 billion people.
You could say the commandment of be fruitful and multiply has already been fulfilled.