{"id":49313,"date":"2019-02-12T20:43:05","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T18:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=49313"},"modified":"2022-09-07T06:38:32","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T03:38:32","slug":"procreation-then-and-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/procreation-then-and-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Procreation \u2013 Then And Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[754,529,830],"acf":{"old_id":"49313","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Blessings of a thousandfold...","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The last of the five books of the Pentateuch consists, nearly in its entirety (Chapters 1-33), of what turns out to be Moses\u2019 parting address to Israel. Shortly after the beginning of this extended oration, Moses speaks about the extent of the Israelite population spread out before him: \u201cThe Lord your God has multiplied you until you are today as numerous as the stars in the sky. May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase your numbers a thousandfold, and bless you as He promised you\u201d (verses 10-11, see God\u2019s promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:5). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Midrash (Deuteronomy Rabbah, 1:15 to Deuteronomy 1:10) elaborates on this biblical passage by creatively imagining how the Israelites managed so successfully to increase their numbers during their enslavement in Egypt despite the brutal attempts of the Egyptians to reduce the Israelite population (see Exodus 1:7-22).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First the Egyptians tried having the Israelites include in their brickmaking tasks the physically exhausting labor of plowing straw, to reduce their desire and ability to have sexual relations. When this failed the Egyptians ordered the Israelite men to sleep where they worked, rather than returning home at night to their wives. But, a creative way was employed that enabled the Israelites to continue to have children. When the Israelite women would go to draw water, God would have fish swim into their pitchers. The women would exchange some of the fish for oil and wine with which to prepare food for their menfolk. The women would then take appetizing meals to their husbands where they were required to stay. While the men would be eating and drinking, their wives would look in their hand mirrors and say to their husbands: Take a look to see who of us is the most attractive, thus arousing their sexual appetite. God saw to it that the ensuing sexual relations immediately resulted in each of the Israelite women bearing up to ten babies at one time!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In modern times, the core Jewish population grew to its historical peak of 17 million in 1939. The Holocaust tragically reduced this number to 11 million in 1945. By the 1970\u2019s this number grew to around 13 million. Until 2005, Jewish population growth was near zero due to low fertility rates and assimilation. But, from then until 2013, this began again to increase to an annual rate of almost one percent annually. Current world Jewish population is estimated to be approximately 15 million. In November 2017, it was announced that women in Israel have 3.1 children on average, compared to fewer than 2 in most OECD countries. Perhaps we can still hear today Moses addressing us: \u201cMay the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase your numbers a thousandfold, and bless you as He promised you\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":49314,"id":49314,"title":"Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920","filename":"Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/procreation-then-and-now\/dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt1-milky-way-2695569_1920","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":49313,"date":"2019-02-12 18:42:49","modified":"2019-02-12 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