156 Moshe Zemer

The Tradition emphasizes again and again the utmost sig­nificance of sexual reproduction. According to the Midrash , “God said I created the world only for the sake of procreation, as it is written(Isaiah 45:18)‘God who formed the earth and made it, he did not create it as a waste, he formed it to be inhabited.””’"

A number of heterosexual couples, of course, are unable to bring children into the world. Their number is relatively small when compared to fertile couples. The Torah and the halakhah go according to the majority. Today, these infertile couples may seek medical assistance through artificial insemination, In-vitro­fertilization(IVF), or adoption.

Gays and lesbians claim that they also fulfill the mitzvah of pro­creation in a similar fashion by means of medical science or adop­tion. The vast majority of heterosexual couples are able to reproduce naturally, and this was the intention of the Torah commandment to be fruitful and multiply to bring children into the world. Medical aid to reproduction was developed as an alternative to the natural process. In most of these techniques the ova of the wife and sperm of the husband are used. Even though the process is artificial, in most cases the genetic makeup of the children is that of their father and mother. It is a genetic family. Lesbians might rely on the dona­tion of sperm by a stranger or friend outside the family circle. Same sex families can never be fully genetic.

Scientists indicate that the rate of success in conception and childbirth by artificial means is much less than in natural sexual intercourse. According to this finding, same sex-couples, on the average, will have fewer children than heterosexual parents.

In order to have children, of course, these techniques can be used only by lesbians, whereas homosexual men are limited to adoption. The resulting childbearing may be relatively small. More than two decades ago there was a widespread debate about the world population explosion and the threat of world wide famine. Political leaders concerned about the dangers of wide spread starvation encouraged society to adopt the policy of zero population growth.

When this proposition was discussed in Jewish communities, the conclusion of the majority was that after the Shoah , the Jewish

people could not afford to limit its numbers. On the contrary, it was considered a mitzvah to bring into the world a large Jewish family.