Q&A: Limiting Births vs. the Commandment to Be Fruitful and Multiply
Limiting Births vs. the Commandment to Be Fruitful and Multiply
Question
Hello Rabbi, in recent years an opinion has begun to take shape in the scientific community saying that humanity needs to start limiting births, because if we continue at our current growth rate it will cause difficulties in the future. So which takes precedence: the commandment to be fruitful and multiply, or the scientific recommendations?
On the one hand, I could say that if I have more children than the scientists recommend, it does not really matter, because as a single person I am like a drop of water in the sea. But on the other hand, if everyone thinks that way, the results will be disastrous (see the parable about the king and the bathtub of cola).
And another question on the same topic: as far as I know, the basic obligation of the commandment to be fruitful and multiply is to have one son and one daughter—does having 7, 8, or 9 children really have additional value? And if so, does that take precedence over the scientific recommendations?
Answer
I was asked about this here. The basic obligation is a son and a daughter, and that does not harm the state of the world. Beyond that, it is only on account of “He created it to be inhabited,” and in that, in my opinion, there is definitely room for considerations about the world’s crowding—considerations that did not exist in the time of the Sages.
Such guidelines have to assume that everyone follows them, and there is no room for the consideration that one individual’s actions do not affect the overall situation. That is the categorical imperative.