Positive Commandment 212 (Digest)
Reproduction
"Be fruitful and multiply"—Genesis 1:28.
We are commanded to reproduce in order to perpetuate the human species. For this reason, a groom on the night of his wedding is exempt from the biblical obligation to recite the Shema, for his mind is presumably preoccupied with the impending mitzvah that he will perform.
This mitzvah is only mandatory for males.
The 212th mitzvah is that we are commanded to be fruitful and to multiply, and to have the intention of perpetuating the species. This is known as the mitzvah of pirya v'rivya (be fruitful and multiply).
The source of this commandment is G‑d's statement (exalted be He), "Be fruitful and multiply."
Our Sages have explained that a groom who has wed a virgin is exempt from the mitzvah of reciting the Shema [before consummating the marriage]; and have given the reason that he is "occupied with a mitzvah."
The details of this mitzvah and its obligations are found in the sixth chapter of Yevamos.
Women are exempt from this mitzvah, as our Sages said explicitly, "Men have the obligation to be fruitful and multiply, not women."
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