Obligation of Procreation
Gate of Reincarnations - Chapter Eleven, Section 9
Translation by Yitzchok bar Chaim; commentary by Shabtai Teicher
The mitzvah of procreation has a special status and it is a
category in itself.
The fifth category is one particular mitzvah, the mitzvah
of procreation.
This is the mitzvah to father children, as it is written, "...Be
fruitful and multiply" (Gen. 1:28).
It is a mitzvah that a person is obligated to run after it
to fulfill it, and he is also capable of fulfilling it.
It may happen that a person marries, but the couple does not
succeed in giving birth to children. According to Benei Aharon, the
judgment described here applies to that person because most men are capable of
fathering children. It also applies to men whose children have all died and they
do not have any other surviving progeny in the world.
On the other hand, someone who does not marry at all is not
included within this category, but his fate is worse, according to the Benei
Aharon. He cites proof from the explanation of the Talmud (Berachot
10a) on the verse "In those days Hezekiah was sick unto death, and Isaiah the
son of Amotz came to him and said, 'Thus said the Lord... you will die, and not
live.'" (Isaiah 38:1)  | | " What have you to do with the secrets of G-d? What you have been commanded, you need to do...." | | |
The Talmud asks the following question. If he said to him that
"you will die", why does he also say that he will "not live"? It answers that
Isaiah said to him, "you will die" in this world and you will "not live" in the
next world.
Hezekiah asks why his punishment is so severe.
Isaiah answers that it is because Hezekiah never married and
never fulfilled the mitzvah of procreation, and although Hezekiah foresaw that
his children would turn out bad, it was no excuse. "What have you to do with the
secrets of G-d? What you have been commanded, you need to do, and G-d will do
what pleases Him."
This one has stringency beyond all the other mitzvot, as
will be explained. Gilgul does not satisfy the deficiency of someone who
dies without children, and he did not fulfill it [the mitzvah].
Gilgul of one sort or another, or even ibur, does
satisfy the need of someone who dies while he is missing any of the other
mitzvot, as it was taught in the last section. This is not the case for "someone
who dies without children, and he did not fulfill it."
The repeated phrase, "and he did not fulfill it", seems to
exclude those who fulfilled the mitzvah in a previous gilgul, as we
learned concerning Ben Azai in Gate of Reincarnations 5:8. | | " The sparks of the soul of the one who dies without children will enter into the body of the second gilgul...." | | |
Concerning all the others that reincarnate because they are
missing some mitzvah, each and every one of their bodies will arise and come
back to life in the time of the Resurrection. The sparks of his soul that will
enter within [each body at the time of Resurrection of the Dead] will correspond
to the amount of mitzvot that were done in the lifetime of that body. However,
the sparks of the soul of the one who dies without children will enter into the
body of the second gilgul, and this is esoteric yibum.
In other words, the body will not gain any merit from any of the
other mitzvot done in its lifetime. All the merit and rectified soul sparks will
go to the body of the next gilgul.
Then he will fulfill the mitzvah of procreation. Concerning
the first body that did not fulfill it, there will be nothing to enter into it
except that first spirit that was left within his wife from their first intimate
relationship when he married her.
There is a minor spirit that is transmitted from the man to the
woman at the time of her first intimate relationship with her husband. This
minor spirit is a derivation from the soul of the man. Some of its "adventures"
have already been discussed in the introduction to Chapter Nine, in the
subsection called "The Sabba Enters Into the Place of the 400 Questions."
As we learned there also, at the time of Resurrection of the Dead it is only
this minor spirit that is available to vitalize and enter the body of the person
who did not fulfill the mitzvah of procreation. All the other soul sparks that
may have been rectified in that gilgul go the body of the next gilgul
that did fulfill the mitzvah. Click to link to the previous article in this series,
Gate of Reincarnations, Categories of Positive Mitzvot 11:8
Click to link to the next article in this series,
Gate of Reincarnations, The 613 Mitzvot and Torah Study 11:10
Visitor Comments: 1
giampiero ascani, from italy, 4/17/2006
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