Mitzvah of Be Fruitful and Multiply
Question
My wife and I now have five girls. We never had a boy. We both wanted one, but it never happened. My wife is done with pregnancy and doesn’t want to carry another baby or increase the size of our family. I very much respect her feelings. I love all my daughters, don’t get me wrong about it. But since I don’t have a son, have I failed to fulfill any mitzvah? What can I do about this?
Answers
Firstly, please accept my blessing that your daughters be a source of immeasurable nachas to you and your wife!
The Talmud teaches that the Mitzvah to be fruitful and multiply means to have a boy and a girl. According to most opinions a person who does not have at least one boy and one girl has not fulfilled the Mitzvah. However, you cannot be held accountable as the gender of your children is something that you have no control over.
There is an opinion that the Mitzvah of being fruitful and multiplying is the effort that goes into it as the results are not in your hands. According to that opinion the fact that you married and had children means that you have fulfilled the Mitzvah.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team
What is the impact of having only daughters and not sons? How will that affect my future? What issues might I face? I feel like Tzelafchad, who also had five daughters and no sons.
How will it affect your future? Only for the good! You will be blessed with joy and happiness and five wonderful sons-in-law!
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team