Commento su Genesi 9:7

ואתם פרו ורבו AND YE, BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY — According to the real sense, the first time this mas said to man (Genesis 9:1) it was said as a blessing (an assurance that they would be fruitful); here it is a command (Ketubot 5a). According to the Midrashic explanation this command is mentioned here after the mention of murder in order to liken one who abstains from having children to one who sheds blood (Yevamot 63b).

AND YOU, BE YE FRUITFUL, AND MULTIPLY. The plain meaning thereof is as its Midrash, i.e., that it is a commandment.²⁰³Ibid., 59b. A similar verse mentioned with reference to Adam,²⁰⁴Above, 1:28. also one with reference to the sons of Noah²⁰⁵Verse 1 here. in conjunction with the statement that G-d blessed them, constitutes a blessing, just as it is said concerning the fish.²⁰⁶Above, 1:22. Now because He spoke here of the other living things and said, that they may swarm in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth,²⁰⁷Ibid., 8:17. He said here, And you — man — be ye fruitful and multiply. He continued saying, swarm in the earth, and multiply therein, in order to repeat the commandment for the purpose of emphasis, thus stating that they should be engaged in it with all power [since those who came forth from the ark were few]. Perhaps He commanded them concerning the settlement of the whole earth, as I have explained in Seder Bereshith.²⁰⁴Above, 1:28.
Now Rashi wrote, “According to the plain interpretation, the first time [this was said to man it was said] as a blessing; here it is a command. According to the Midrashic explanation, [this command is mentioned here after the prohibition of murder] in order to liken one who abstains from having children to one who sheds blood.” Now the Rabbis have derived this Midrash only from the juxtaposition of the verses, but the verse itself was written as a commandment, and the first [time this was said to man it was] as a blessing. [This is contrary to Rashi who implies that the Midrashic explanation differs from the plain interpretation.] And so the Rabbis have said in Tractate Sanhedrin,²⁰³Ibid., 59b. “But the commandment to be fruitful which was declared to the sons of Noah — as it is written, And you, be ye fruitful and multiply,….”

ואתם פרו ורבו, not only must you not diminish the human population on earth, but you are commanded to increase it by being fruitful and by multiplying.

פרו ורבו. Be fruitful and multiply! It was necessary to repeat this because when the Torah permitted resumption of marital relations when Noach and his wife left the ark (8,16), He gave permission to multiply. In this instance G'd commanded man to be fruitful and to multiply. Why did the Torah have to repeat this formula both in 9,1 and here in 9,7? Presumably in 9,1 the Torah introduced this commandment as a desirable action on man's part, a מצוה, whereas here it is repeated as a חובה, an absolute duty. Not only is performance of this commandment subject to reward, non-performance is subject to punishment.

ואתם פרו ורבו, why does the Torah repeat this, seeing we have been told this already in verse 1 of this chapter? Seeing the Torah had spoken of bloodshed, a sin resulting in depopulating the earth, it was important to emphasise that it is man’s task to populate the earth, not the reverse. In fact, this is now not only a blessing but a positive commandment. The expression שרצו means that mankind should strive to produce offspring in large numbers, something that happened with the Israelites after they came to Egypt. We have evidence of this in Exodus 1,7 where the proliferation of

ואתם פרו ורבו ושרצו בארץ, “as to you, be fruitful and multiply and swarm over the earth.” The commandment at this time shows that during their stay in the ark both man and beast had been forbidden to have sexual relations.

Plain explanation, the first is... Rashi holds that, “Elohim said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply’” (1:28), comes to explain [the preceding blessing of], “Elohim blessed them” (ibid.). And so it is with the verse for Noach and his descendants. “He said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth’” (9:1) comes to explain [the preceding blessing of], “Elohim blessed Noach and his sons” (ibid.). However, the mitzvah to propagate is learned only from the verse, “And now be fruitful and multiply,” because no term of blessing is mentioned here. (Kitzur Mizrachi)

שרצו בארץ ורבו בה — ein höchst bedeutsamer Zusatz zur Entwicklungsaufgabe der noachidischen Welt, mit welchem diese ganze Neukonstituierung der Menschheit schließt, und dessen Bedeutung das Wort רישביל in ביר mit der Erläuterung: ברית נחלק לאוירות, ein besonderer Bund ist in den verschiedenen Klimaten und Gegenden erteilt, erschließt. שרץ ist, wie bereits erkannt, die niedrigste Lebensstufe, nach dem wesentlichen Merkmal ihrer Erscheinung, der Bewegung, ישרצו המים. Indem hier der Fortpflanzung und Vermehrung des Menschengeschlechtes noch schließlich dieses Attribut beigefügt wird, dürfte in diesem Ausdruck uns ein Gewimmel der mannigfaltigsten Menschenerscheinungen vergegenwärtigt, und somit eine Mannigfaltigkeit und unendliche Vermehrung des Menschengeschlechtes nach allen möglichen Schattierungen als künftige Entwicklung des Menschengeschlechtes bezeichnet sein, und zwar בארץ, auf der Erde und durch die Erde und von der Erde und unter dem Einflusse der mannigfach verschieden gestalteten Erde, und nicht nur שרצו בארץ, sondern auch רבו — die ganze leibliche, sittliche und geistige Erziehung — ebenfalls בה unter demselben Einflusse. Das, was oben in dem Satze ׳עוד כל ימי הארץ וגו nur geahnt werden konnte, ist hier ausgesprochen. Es erhielt die noachidische Menschheit die Bestimmung, sich über die ganze Erde zu verbreiten und unter den verschiedensten Gestalten, Verhältnissen und Einflüssen Mensch zu werden und den allgemeinen Menschencharakter zu entwickeln; eine Verschiedenheit und Mannigfaltigkeit, die uns im obigen Zusammenhange als der, s.Raw Hirsch on Genesis 9:Raw Hirsch on Genesis 9:, neue Gottesplan für die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechtes erschienen, der der Notwendigkeit totaler Katastrophen vorbeugen sollte. Die Verschiedenheit soll die Mängel ausgleichen und so den Fortschritt zum Ziele anbahnen. ברית נחלק לאוירות, sprechen daher die Weisen zur Stelle: ברוך שנתן חן המקום בעיני יושביו ,die verschiedenen Gegenden und Luftarten hat Gott mit einem besonderen Bündnisse ausgestattet" — (vielleicht wörtlich: der allgemeine Gottesbund mit der Menschheit ist über die verschiedensten Gegenden verteilt) — "Gott sei gesegnet, der jeder Örtlichkeit einen Reiz in den Augen ihrer Bewohner verliehen!" und weisen darauf hin, wie jeder Menschenstamm in seiner Heimat sich unter den unwirtlichsten Verhältnissen behaglich fühlt, wie die ungastlichste Gegend ihre Söhne in der Fremde mit Heimweh fesselt und ihre geistige Entwicklung in der Fremde stört. Der Mensch, der die Erde zu beherrschen glaubt, wird vielfach bis in sein innerstes Innere, in Geist, Gemüt, Verstand, Sprache, von dem Boden, der ihn trägt und umgibt, beherrscht, und diese Verschiedenartigkeit ist Zweck. Überall kann der Mensch Mensch sein, überall glücklich, überall das Menschliche im Menschen zur reinen Entfaltung kommen. Nur muß einer nicht seinen Maßstab an den andern legen. Darum heißt es am Schlusse dieser Neugestaltung der Erde und der Menschheit: Ver- mannigfaltigt euch auf der Erde und vermehrt euch auf ihr, durch sie, in ihr, mit ihr usw.

ואתם פרו ורבו, “as for you, be fruitful and multiply!” I G-d, do not wish that you diminish in numbers but that you increase in numbers. An alternate interpretation: if you follow My instructions to deal sternly with murderers, I will in turn insure that you will increase in numbers, [although you might have to execute the odd murderer in your midst. Ed.] A third possible interpretation: This blessing appears here twice, once (verse 1) for the human race and once for the animal kingdom.

The letter ו at the beginning of the verse ואתם is a strong hint in that direction. G'd said to Noach that inasmuch as He had sworn never again to destroy all flesh, man too must perform something in recognition of G'd's oath, i.e. to be fruitful and to multiply. We can now understand the statement in Shabbat 41 that if someone takes hold of his member and ejaculates, this is tantamount to his bringing a deluge on the world. Our sages considered such action a breach of the mutual oath between G'd and man. When man deliberately destroys his semen he is in violation of that oath.

"Be fruitful and multiply, etc." It is not far fetched to say that the reason the Torah exempted women from the mitzvah of Pru U'Rvu and obligated only men is because the laws of Hashem and His ways "... are pleasant and all of his paths peaceful" [Mishlei 3:17] and he did not amass on a Jewish person what the body can not tolerate. Everything that is prohibited by the Torah there is a permitted alternative as detailed in [Tractate Hullin 8th chapter] "Kal Habasar". Due to this principle there is only one day in the calendar th at we are [biblically] obligated to not eat [Yom Kippur] and the preceding day [the 9th] we are warned and obligated TO eat. Similarly the Torah does not prevent marital relations from any creature besides for Moshe Rabenu because there was no one else as exalted and required such carefulness with his body as Moshe. Similarly, the during wartime when the [Jewish] army is successful and the passions run high Hashem realized there is no way to stop the [soldiers wild] spirit as he desires the beautiful [captive] women [Deuteronomy 21:11] and the Torah allowed this women to the soldier [as outlined by Deuteronomy 21:11]. The Torah is only bending in response to evil inclinations and passions. This principle [of the Torahs ways are pleasant] became a corner stone of legal policy to our predecessors who established laws and exempted a Yibum who's children died after her husband died. Women endanger themselves in pregnancy and childbirth, that has been established as a legal principle that death is prevalent [see Tosfos Ketubot 83b]. As a result women are not commanded with the mitzvah of Pru U'Rvu. For the same reason a woman is allowed to drink a potion that makes her sterile [from having children] as Yehudit the wife of Rav Hiya [Yevamot 65b]. Women desire to have children is much stronger than men, as we see with Rachel who demanded from Jacob children "or its as if I'm dead". This explains what Rav Yosef said in Tractate Yevamot [65b] that women are exempt from Pru U'Rvu. The verse states "I am El-Shadai, Pre Urve" [singular form] and it doesn't use the plural form Pru U'Rvu. Adam and Even who were commanded together with Pru U'Rvu were commanded before the first sin and at that time there was no pain associated with childbirth. Therefore it was a mitzvah for both Adam and Eve to Pru U'Rvu. After the sin when there is pain in childbirth and frequently can be dangerous and life threatening [its not longer a mitzvah for women]. We see that women are known to swear never to become pregnant again while in labor. Noah [after he left the arc] was commanded with Pru U'Rru [in the plural form, and this was after the first sin], however the Torah in the verses preceding the command its written in the Torah that G-d blessed Noah and his sons, whereas their wives are not mentioned, since they are not obligated in the command of Pru U'Rvu. By Jacob its written "Pre Urve" [Genesis 25:1] [in the singular form] which is accurate [way the command should have been addressed]. The Maharsha in his commentary to Tractate Sanhedrin 55...