Q&A: A Concerned Citizen
A Concerned Citizen
Question
Hello, honorable Rabbi.
The birthrate data in the Haredi public today show a median age of 16. According to the data, that public doubles itself every 16 years. That is, every building/road/etc. that we see needs to be built in double quantity every 16 years. (By the way, the non-Haredi public in the State of Israel doubles itself every 50 years.) Rabbi, is it clear to you that this leads to lives of poverty, terrible crowding, and chasing our own tail, while enslaving all resources just to try to build the country at the required pace? Growth at this rate means that every 50 years the public multiplies itself by 8!! Is my concern justified? If so, is it your role as a man of spirit to warn about this, and maybe someone will wake up? And a third thing: is it proper and right (and possible) to limit births, or do something else?
Thank you very much
Answer
I don't think it would be effective to limit births. What can be done, though, is not to encourage them. Today there is unjustified encouragement, much of it under Haredi influence of course (discounts, allowances, etc.). In any case, it seems to me that constraints should do their work, unless the general public continues to behave with its usual infantilism and keeps encouraging and funding this proliferation without end.