In the Rabbi’s opinion, is the prophet’s claim to Hezekiah, “What have you to do with the secrets of the Merciful One?” concerned only with being fruitful and multiplying, and not with “He created it to be inhabited”?

Technically, I think it isn’t practical to have only a son and a daughter, because statistically, in order to have a son and a daughter you generally need to have at least four children.

What does that have to do with Hezekiah?
You need to have children until there is a son and a daughter. On average it takes about three (I didn’t do an exact calculation, but it isn’t hard).

It’s exactly three. There is a calculation in Nadav Shnerb’s “Keren Zavit.”

The prophet told Hezekiah not to refrain from having children even though they would be wicked, because “What have you to do with the secrets of the Merciful One?” At first glance, one could argue on that basis that one should not make future calculations when it comes to having children.

Still, I already hinted that there may be room to distinguish between the commandment of being fruitful and multiplying and the commandment of “He created it to be inhabited.” Now I looked in Berakhot (10a), and there indeed the claim is regarding the commandment of being fruitful and multiplying.

In an up-to-date study on behalf of Al HaMaayan University, the researchers reached the conclusion that the average is four 🙂.

Much appreciated 🙂

We need to understand whether the command is addressed to humanity as a whole or to the individual person. If the command is for the individual, then it makes sense to moderate childbirth, but if it is for humanity as a whole, then one could perhaps argue, if there is a sufficient factual basis, that large-scale human population growth requires the individual person to go to the other extreme and not have children, or have fewer than a son and a daughter.

Let the large nations stop having children. There is no need for a small people, which lacks manpower (something that significantly affects everything—security, the economy, and the future in general), to start being stingy, not even with “He created it to be inhabited.”

If my imagination isn’t deceiving me, the nations really did reduce childbirth long ago.

At first glance, economically, when there are more than five children per family (roughly. Zvi, please update us with precise numbers), on the contrary, that affects the economy negatively—both that of the household and that of the public as a whole.

Roni, what you’re saying is absurd. Why are you dividing the picture by nations rather than by individual people? The decision whether to do this is entrusted to each person, not to each nation. Why not by city? By continent? (Let the Asians do it. We Australians are such a small continent.) Beyond that, there is the categorical imperative. Just as you leave it to others, so will everyone else.

Roni means that from the standpoint of the Giver of the Torah, or the Sages [whose reason(s) you presume to understand, and on that basis to set aside], it is possible that there is supreme priority to increasing the number of Jews, the people of God, who sanctify Heaven in the world, over the risk of increased birthrates. And regarding the risk, the recommendation should be made to the other nations that they take it into account—since they do not have this supreme value.

Yes, I divide by nations, and I don’t see that as absurd. You also divide by families.
And the difference is simple: nations are units of identity, not just a technical cut (unlike a continent or a city).
In addition, of course, Eliezer’s words are correct.

Roni, then let the nations use contraception. Children are brought into the world within a family. (What a silly comparison you made here, if you’ll pardon me.)
And regarding Eliezer’s clarification, everyone is sure that he is the center of the world and the bearer of God’s word. We’ve already spoken here about a small and high-quality army.

All I’m saying is that the interest of the nation is, in my opinion, a factor and a reasonable consideration.

Children are something far too important to demand that a person give them up, and from experience, even after a few you still want more and more and more.
To demand that a person give them up and have only a few is like demanding that a person [aside, of course, from the halakhic prohibition] commit suicide when he reaches age 80 because then he is a burden on humanity.
There are things that are beyond every consideration, and children are joy, they are life, and they are happiness.

I didn’t understand the answer to the claim: “What have you to do with the secrets of the Merciful One?” We are obligated to be fruitful and multiply… and what will happen in the future should be left in the Creator’s hands…?

Why do we desecrate the Sabbath to save lives? “What have you to do with the secrets of the Merciful One?!” Let them keep the Sabbath and leave it to the Holy One, blessed be He, to worry about the consequences. “What have you to do with the secrets of the Merciful One” was not said in a situation where one acts to prevent a problematic result. It was said about a situation where Hezekiah wanted to refrain from being fruitful and multiplying so that a wicked son would not come from him. That is not his concern, but the concern of the son and of the Holy One, blessed be He. Especially since the outcome depends on the son’s free choice.