SELECTED REFORM RESPONSA

also in keeping with the thought that before the Messiah could come, all the souls waiting for bodies will have to be placed into the world (ibid.; Nidda 13b) During our entire history, persecution and natural disaster have decimated our people, and so repopulation has always been emphasized. Lack of children was considered grounds for divorce after a decade of childless marriage, but Isserles indicated that nowadays we do not force the issue and permit the couple to remain together(Isserles to Shulkhan Arukh, Even Ha-ezer 1.3 and 8: also Isserles to 154.10) This was particularly true if the man had already had children by a previous marriage. All of this makes it clear that children were considered essential to a marriage, and it was considered desirable to have a large number of children, but a marriage without them was also condoned(Abraham di Boton, Lechem Mishneh to Yad, Hil. Ishut 4.10: Yair Hayyim Baharach, Havat Yair,#221)

The strictest interpretation of the traditional halakhah which makes a distinction between the obligations of men and women(a distinction not accepted by Reform Jews) would allow a woman to marry a sterile male, since the obligation of procreation was not incumbent upon her. When the husband or wife was sterile and it was not possible to have children, the marriage was always considered valid(bedi-avad); i.e., since it had been entered in good faith, it need not be terminated as mentioned earlier This was stressed by Maimonides who considered such a marriage valid under any circumstances(Yad Hil. Ishut 4. 10), whether the individual was born sterile or was sterilized later. Later authorities went somewhat further, and Yair Hayyim Bacharach stated that as long a the prospective wife realized that her prospective husband was infertile, though sexually potent, and she had agreed to the marriage, it was valid and acceptable(Havat Yair,#221). Isaac b. Sheshet(Responsa,#15)

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