Rabbi Yissachar Frand
“May the L-rd, the G-d of your fathers, add to your numbers thousands of times as many people like you, and bless you as He has promised you” (Devarim, 1:11).
According to Rashi, the Jewish people were not particularly pleased with the blessing Moshe gave them: “May the L-rd, the G-d of your fathers, add to your numbers thousands of times as many people like you, and bless you as He has promised you.”
The Jews said: “Moshe, why are you limiting our blessing? The Almighty blessed our forefather Avraham (Bereishit, 13:16): ‘And I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth. If a person can count the dust of the earth, he will also be able to count your offspring.’”
Moshe replied: “What I have said is my own personal blessing. The Creator will bless you as He has promised you.”
What is the true meaning of Moshe's blessing? What additional benefit will the Jews receive from his blessing that they multiply thousands of times over, if they have already been blessed by the Almighty to be as numerous as “the dust of the earth”?
The Chatam Sofer explains that Moshe was simply testing them. Why does everyone want children? Is it because children are useful, so to speak: they can help carry heavy things, keep us entertained on a journey, and brighten a lonely old age? Or is it because children are a spark of G-d, a priceless gift from Heaven, a part of the World to Come?
So this was Moshe's test for the Jewish people. He blessed them with numerous descendants—an increase of thousands of times! If all they wanted children for was help with household chores and care in old age, the people could have replied: “Thank you, but we already have enough! A thousand suits us perfectly; we do not need any more for now.” Yet that was not the answer the people of Israel gave to Moshe's blessing! They wanted to have more children—so many more that “if a person can count the dust of the earth, he will also be able to count your offspring” (in other words, an uncountable number). Clearly, they were not thinking of their own material benefit or what would happen when they grew old or fell ill. In children, they saw the incredible blessing each child carries, and thus the people of Israel proved that each of them was worthy of the Almighty's blessing.
Hundreds of years before this episode, the Torah presents two incompatible views of children.
Yaakov and Esav were to divide things between them: Esav “took” this world, while Yaakov received the World to Come. When Yaakov returned from Aram, Esav met him at the head of an army of 400 warriors. A few minutes after their meeting, Esav noticed Yaakov's many children.
Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer explains the dialogue between Yaakov and Esav and reveals its deeper meaning to us. Esav asked: “Who are these children?” Yaakov answered: “These are the children the Almighty has graciously given your servant.”
Esav was surprised: “What are you doing with all these children? I thought we had a clear division: I get this world, and you get the World to Come. So why do you have so many children? What do these children have to do with the World to Come? Children are ‘property’ of this world!” Yaakov answered: “That is not how it is at all! Children are a spark of the Almighty. The very opportunity to raise a child, to lead a Divine soul along a path that can bring it to the World to Come—is that not a privilege of the highest spiritual order? That is why I have so many children.”
Yaakov truly valued children. Esav, however, saw children as possessions of the material world.
Children are an extra pair of hands for work in the fields. They can milk cows and help around the house!
And what about us?
Modern society has come a long way since those times. We do not live by subsistence farming, and there is no longer the same need for labor as there was then. As a result, the “practical value” of children has plummeted! Not only do they fail to help—as terrible as this may sound, children are a real burden to the modern generation! Raising children is expensive, takes a long time, and, frankly, wrecks your nerves. Who even needs children today?
You might point out that people still need companionship and still suffer from loneliness, just as they did hundreds of years ago... No problem: today a person can get a dog. Dogs are much better than children! And now, instead of coming home to a house full of demanding, annoying, exhausting children, a person hurries home to a loving, tail-wagging dog who joyfully runs to fetch its owner his slippers and the day's newspaper. So why have children when there is such an alternative? This is Esav's position and philosophy, which is so popular in modern society!
But our forefather Yaakov was not like that! He understands that the purpose of children is not to provide enjoyment of this world or to make our daily routine easier. Every child carries a spiritual mission; in each is a Divine spark entrusted to us to care for and guide. Each of us, as a parent, has been given a unique opportunity: to fulfill the Almighty's will and prepare the child's soul so that it may merit the World to Come.