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פרו ורבו ומלאו את הארץ וכבשוה
Highlights of a Shiur by Rav Yosef Jacobowitz
Be Fruitful and Multiply… (Bereshit 9:1)
What is the minimum needed to fulfill one’s obligation? Or, more to the point: Can a person ever fulfill the obligation in its entirety?
The Mishna in Yevamot cites a discussion between Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel whether one needs both a boy a girl to fulfill one’s obligation or is it enough to have two boys.
The Talmud Bavli is clear that their opinions are mutually exclusive; i.e., two boys according to Bet Hillel is not sufficient, and vice versa according to Bet Shammai.
The Yerushalmi – quoted by the Rashba – implies otherwise: both Bet Shammai and Bet HiIlel agree that either of the two situations are sufficient.
The Maharit’s first wife bore him only boys, yet he did not remarry. How do we understand this in light of the well-known dictum that we follow Bavli over the Yerushlami?
The Avnei Nezer introduces a Zohar in explicit accordance with the Yerushalmi, suggesting that the Maharit may have been following the Yerushalmi given the ‘support’ of the Zohar.
This is all regarding the Biblical commandment of P’ru U’Rvu.
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There is still another obligation of: “La’Erev Al Tanah Yadecha” (Kohelet 11:6) – In the evening do not rest your hand. From here, we learn that one is obligated to continue his efforts to bear children even after he has fulfilled his P’ru U’Rvu obligations. So, where P’ru U’Rvu ends, Al Tanah Yadecha begins, but they are not alike. The Hida, cited in Pithe Teshuva, cites some differences between the two.