SELECTED REFORM RESPONSA
blessing to"increase and multiply" might be deemed to be no blessing at all. This may well be so, but as far as the Jewish people is concerned, the situation is somewhat different than with the world population taken as a whole. Within our own lifetime, we have lost, through mass murder, six million of our brethren. almost half the Jewish population in the world. We are again a people that is"few in number"(Psalm 105:12). To us nowadays, every Jewish child is doubly precious. For us, surely, the Biblical blessing is still a blessing. For that matter, among all peoples and all religions, there are numerous families that have been unable to have children and long for children of their own. To them, in spite of the threat of world overpopulation, the Biblical blessing is a longed-for blessing, and the modern fertility pill can be the pathway to it.
All this is clear enough from the point of view of sociology, but from the point of view of halakhah, there is much to consider in the matter of the fertility pill. The commandment to"increase and multiply" is the first commandment given in Scripture. It is the first of the mitzvot. But strange as it may seem, it is a commandment incumbent upon men and not upon women (M. Yevamot 6:6; Yevamot 65b; Shulhan Arukh, Even Haezer 1:13). This means that it is a sin for a man to remain unmarried. It is his duty to provide children. But it is no sin if a woman remains unmarried. A woman may, under certain circumstances, use preventatives against conception(Nedarim 35b). But it is almost impossible to permit a man to prevent his seed from being fruitful(cf. Even Haezer 5:12). If a man has begotten a son and a daughter, he is considered to have fulfilled his obligation"to increase and multiply." However, even so, it is considered a sin for him not to continue to have children if he can afford to do so and is able to do so(Yevamot 62b and Even Haezer 1:8). But what if a woman is not fruitful? Generally the custom was, after ten years of childless marriage, for the man to divorce her and marry another(Even Haezer 1: 3 Isserles and Even Haezer 1:14). This was indeed the custom, but it certainly was a source of sorrow. Why should efforts not be made to heal the barrenness of a woman, so that she can continue with her husband? We notice in Scripture that barren wives did not accept their fate calmly, but prayed that God would make them fruitful.
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