Study Yevamot folio 64A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מלמד שאין השכינה שורה על פחות משני אלפים ושני רבבות מישראל. הרי שהיו ישראל שני אלפים ושני רבבות חסר אחד, וזה לא עסק בפריה ורביה — לא נמצא זה גורם לשכינה שתסתלק מישראל?!
This teaches that the Shekhina does not rest upon less than two thousands and two 10,000s of the Jewish people, as the terms thousands and 10,000s are both in the plural. Consequently, if there were two thousands and two 10,000s of the Jewish people, less one, and this man did not engage in the mitzva to be fruitful and multiply, is he not found to have caused the Shekhina to be depart from the Jewish people?
אבא חנן אמר משום רבי אליעזר: חייב מיתה, שנאמר: ״ובנים לא היו להם״, הא היו להם בנים — לא מתו. אחרים אומרים: גורם לשכינה שתסתלק מישראל, שנאמר: ״להיות לך לאלהים ולזרעך אחריך״, בזמן שזרעך אחריך — שכינה שורה, אין ״זרעך אחריך״ — על מי שורה? על העצים ועל האבנים?!
Abba Ḥanan said in the name of R' Eliezer: A man who does not engage in procreation is liable to death, as it is stated with regard to the sons of Aaron: “And Nadav and Avihu died…and they had no children” (Numbers 3:4). This indicates that if they would have had children they would not have died. Others say: He causes the Shekhina to depart from the Jewish people, as it is stated: “To be a God to you and to your seed after you” (Genesis 17:7). When your seed is after you, i.e., when you have children, the Shekhina rests upon the Jewish people, but if your seed is not after you, upon whom can the Shekhina rest? Upon wood and stones?
מתני׳ נשא אשה ושהה עמה עשר שנים ולא ילדה — אינו רשאי לבטל. גירשה — מותרת לינשא לאחר. ורשאי השני לשהות עמה עשר שנים. ואם הפילה — מונה משעה שהפילה.
Mishnah: If a man married a woman and stayed with her for 10 years and she did not give birth, he is no longer permitted to neglect the mitzva to be fruitful and multiply. Consequently, he must either divorce her and marry someone else, or take another wife while still married to her. If he divorced her she is permitted to marry another man, as it is not necessarily on her account that she and her first husband did not have children, and the second husband is permitted to stay with her for 10 years. And if she had a miscarriage, he counts the 10 years from the time of the miscarriage.