דחיית הריון אחרי לידה

(6) A man may not neglect the mitzva to be fruitful and multiply unless he already has children. Beit Shammai say: One fulfills this mitzva with two males, and Beit Hillel say: A male and a female, as it is stated: “Male and female He created them” (Genesis 5:2). If a man married a woman and stayed with her for ten 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 ten years. And if she had a miscarriage, he counts the ten years from the time of the miscarriage. A man is commanded with regard to the mitzva to be fruitful and multiply, but not a woman. Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Beroka says that a woman is also commanded, as the verse states with regard to both of them: “And God blessed them, and God said to them: Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28).

"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...

The Gemara relates a similar incident: A certain woman came before Rav Naḥman and requested a divorce due to her husband’s inability to father children. He said to her: You are not commanded to be fruitful and multiply. She said to him: Does this woman not require a staff for her hand and a hoe for her burial? In other words, the woman said that she wanted children so that they could care for her in her old age and bury her when she would die. Rav Naḥman said: In a case such as this, we certainly force the husband to divorce her. The Gemara relates that Rabbi Ḥiyya’s sons, Yehuda and Ḥizkiyya, were twins, but one of them was fully developed after nine months of pregnancy and one was fully developed at the beginning of the seventh month, and they were born two months apart. Yehudit, the wife of Rabbi Ḥiyya, had acute birthing pain from these unusual deliveries. She changed her clothes to prevent Rabbi Ḥiyya from recognizing her and came before Rabbi Ḥiyya to ask him a halakhic question. She said: Is a woman commanded to be fruitful and multiply? He said to her: No. She went and drank an infertility potion. Eventually the matter was revealed, and Rabbi Ḥiyya found out about what Yehudit had done. He said to her: If only you had given birth to one more belly for me, i.e., another set of twins. As the Master said: Yehuda and Ḥizkiyya were twin brothers and became prominent Torah scholars, and Pazi and Tavi, Rabbi Ḥiyya’s daughters, were twin sisters, and became the matriarchs of families of distinguished Torah scholars.

§ The mishna teaches: The time of a nursing woman is sufficient until she weans her child from nursing. The Sages taught in a baraita (see Tosefta 2:1): With regard to a nursing woman whose child dies within twenty-four months of his birth, she is like all other women with regard to her impurity status after seeing menstrual blood, and therefore she transmits ritual impurity retroactively for a twenty-four-hour period or from examination to examination. Therefore, if a woman continued to nurse her child for four or five years, her time is sufficient and she does not retroactively transmit impurity for the entire four or five years. This is the statement of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Shimon all say: With regard to nursing women, their time is sufficient for an entire twenty-four months. Therefore, if she nursed him for four or five years, then after the first twenty-four months have passed, she transmits ritual impurity retroactively for a twenty-four-hour period or from examination to examination. The Gemara discusses the reasoning of each opinion: When you analyze the matter you will find that one must say that according to the statement of Rabbi Meir the case is that menstrual blood spoils and becomes milk. Therefore, it follows that this status continues for as long as she is nursing. By contrast, according to the statement of Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon, her limbs become dislocated and her spirit, i.e., her full strength and her regular menstrual cycle, does not return to her until twenty-four months have passed.