Parshas Tazria
The Torah is pro-family. It commands people to marry and have children.
This week’s parsha deals with the ritual laws of cleanliness and impurity
inherent in giving birth to a child. Though the laws of purity and
impurity have little consequence in our lives today due to the absence of
the Temple and its rituals, there are certain laws regarding childbirth
that still retain actuality today. But, I wish to dwell on the broader
aspect of having children in this article. One of the main problems facing
Jewish society today is demographic. Bluntly put, Jews are not reproducing
themselves. In the United States, the statistics regarding Jewish births
show that the birth rate is down to 1.8 – minus population growth, not
just zero population growth. This is attributable to many factors – a
large number of permanent singles, the declining birthrate that seemingly
always accompanies economic affluence, people marrying later, women
choosing careers over family, etc. Whatever the reasons, the numbers spell
disaster for the future of American Jewry. And here in Israel, the birth
rate among secular Jews is also spectacularly low. Compounding the problem
is the high number of abortions undertaken by Jewish women every year, the
numbers of these abortions being measured reportedly in the tens of
thousands. There are wonderful organizations here in Israel that are
committed to helping women in desperate straits give birth to their
children instead of resorting to abortion. But in the overall picture
these efforts are usually too little and too late.
We may be heartened by the fact that in the religious Jewish community
there is currently a high birthrate, 7.6 in the Charedi society and 4.2 in
the Dati society. Eventually, this will cause a vast change in the life,
politics and behavior of our country. But for now, because more than fifty
percent of the Charedi population and a third of the Dati population is
under the age of eight, this is not recognizable. It should be apparent
that there could be no Jewish people if there are not enough Jews to
populate the nation and the Land of Israel. The Jewish people, sixty years
after the Holocaust ended still has not made up its losses. In fact, it
has not even come close. There were nineteen million Jews in the world in
1939. There are barely fourteen million Jews today. The price of
Auschwitz, assimilation and intermarriage is very high. A shrinking base
of Jewish population will spell the loss of Jewish influence and ideas in
the world. And that would truly be a tragedy for all concerned.
The Lord told us in advance that we would not be a people of great
numbers – “for you are the smallest of all nations.” Nevertheless, we have
an obligation to promote increased Jewish population and numbers. Family,
children, generations, these are the values that Jews are judged by. It is
our way of guaranteeing that the message of Sinai will continue to be
heard in a world that so desperately needs to hear it.
Shabat shalom.
Rabbi Berel Wein
Text Copyright © 2005 by Rabbi Berel Wein and Torah.org
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