NOT once, not twice, but three times the Torah instructs humanity, Be fruitful and multiply.
Is this a good idea, with the human population scheduled to reach seven billion people by Oct. 31, according to the UN (and by next March, according to the US)?
It took only 12 years for the earths population to go from six billion to seven billion. It took a couple of millennia to get to the first billion, but once the numbers grow, all the more people are being fruitful and multiplying, so that the next billions come along much sooner.
In the Torahs opening portion, Genesis, G-d commands Adam and Eve, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and conquer it; and rule over the fish of the sea and the bird of the sky and every living thing that moves on the earth (Gen. 1:28).
Notice the pride of place to this commandment. G-d creates man in His image, and creates the human being male and female; and no sooner is G-d done than he commands, Be fruitful and multiply.
And . . . conquer the earth. Rule over it.
No equality here between the human being and the earth. No radical environmentalism here. No equalization of value between the human being and the fish, the fowl and the other animals. Which doesnt mean that the Torah does not value fish, fowl and animals. Let them teem on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth, G-d tells Noah after the flood (Gen. 8:17).
Yet, if the earth fails to produce its own fruits enough food to feed humanity then the command to humanity to be fruitful and multiply seems self-defeating.
But no sooner does G-d flood the earth in Noahs time and destroy virtually all of its human inhabitants, and then dry the earth (recorded in this weeks Torah portion), does G-d bless Noah and tell his sons: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth(Gen. 9:1). Seven verses later, again, the same command to be fruitful and multiply.
Does this mean that to be faithful to the Torah one must hide from the burdens of a swelling humanity?
Is there a contradiction between the primary Biblical command and the conditions of 2011? Are religion and human welfare in conflict?
FIRST, a few facts:
1. The rate of human reproduction is slowing. Yes, it took only 12 years for the earth to grow from six billion to seven billion people. But according to current projections, based on current birth rates, the time it will take to reach the next billions will lengthen.
From a top rate of roughly five live births per woman in 1965 to about half that per woman in 2011, human population growth is slowing, and is expected to slow still more.
2. Population growth both stimulates and retards. It stimulates investment and production. In enhances, rather than drains, human wealth. However, it retards in the sense that certain critical items, such as clean water, are not necessarily maximized by human investment and production.
The most critical item of this nature is food. To support nine billion people by 2050, world food production will need to increase dramatically.
More than 200 years ago Malthus said that humanity would starve if its numbers kept growing. Hes been proven wrong with each major marker of population growth.
3. Most of the projected human population growth will use the smallest percentage of the earths resources. Most of the growth is projected in Africa. But it is the developed countries that do and will use the lions share of carbon, clean water, energy, etc.
SECOND, four perspectives:
1. It seems clear, though not definitive, that the continued growth of humanity will not exhaust the earths resources. As in the past, humanity will become more efficient and more environmentally sound precisely because of population growth.
2. However the prospects for humanity turn out, it is clear, and definitive, that the Jewish people must replenish their severe losses caused by the Holocaust and other persecutions.
The Jewish need for population increase is inherent, as well as critical to Israels welfare.
Without the pogroms, mass murders and Holocaust over the millennia, it is estimated that the world Jewish population would be four to five times what it is now.
3. Space, anyone? I would love to see the next great frontier, the most expansive example of human imagination, be the colonization of as much of the solar system as possible. Think decades, think a century. Make it happen.
4. It is impossible for any command of the Torah, let alone its first and primary one, to contradict the welfare of humanity. Be fruitful and multiply in doing so, humanity will also figure out how to overcome the pragmatic challenges to this life-affirming commandment of G-d.
Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News
