Living Torah Archives

The very first command of the Torah is: “Be fruitful and multiply.” Rashi explains: You might think that having one child is already being “fruitful,” so Torah adds “and multiply.” And to remove all doubt, the verse continues, “fill the earth and conquer it.”

Judaism teaches us that each and every child born is a cherished blessing for its parents and the Jewish people as a whole. But where can parents gain the confidence to take on the financial burden of raising a large family? The real answer is that your success was never in your hands anyway.

The Talmud teaches that there are three partners in the creation of a child; the father, the mother, and G-d Himself. And while G-d entrusts the parents with the ability to make a very special contribution, He never removes Himself from the equation.

The first commandment in the Torah is to have children. When G-d created Adam and Eve, He blessed them and said: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the sky and over all the beasts that tread upon the earth.”

The Talmud explains that that there are three partners involved in the creation of a child – the father, the mother, and G-d.

Torah’s first commandment is: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and conquer it.” This is not just a physical command, but a spiritual one: When it comes to building a family, one must conquer all the concerns that stem from the ‘earth’ — from worldly, materialistic considerations...

As soon as a Jewish baby is born, what G-d declared at Sinai applies to him. All souls of all generations, this baby’s soul included, were present at Sinai when G-d addressed them – in the first person: “I am the Lord thy G-d, Who brought you out from the Land of Egypt.”