[Avodah] RSRH on Marriage

[Professor L. Levine]

The following are excerpts from RSRH's commentary on Bereishis 1:28


28. And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the sky and over all the beasts that tread upon the earth.


"כחוַיְבָ֣רֶךְ אֹתָם֘ אֱלֹהִים֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר לָהֶ֜ם אֱלֹהִ֗ים פְּר֥וּ וּרְב֛וּ וּמִלְא֥וּ אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ וְכִבְשֻׁ֑הָ וּרְד֞וּ בִּדְגַ֤ת הַיָּם֙ וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וּבְכָל־חַיָּ֖ה הָֽרֹמֶ֥שֶׂת עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ:


28 God blessed both of them, and He made both of them responsible for
the fulfillment of mankind’s mission.

פְּר֥וּ
refers to marriage, the union of the sexes for production of human
fruit — children. Just as the choice energies and saps of the tree become
“free” in its fruit as an independent germ (see above, v. 11), so the
noblest traits of godliness and humaneness of the father and mother
unite to produce an independent human germ.

רְב֛וּ
refers to the family. r'vah = to multiply. Begetting children is not
sufficient in order for the human species to multiply. Even in the case
of many species of animals, increase of the breed is dependent on care
of the young; and in the case of the human species, such care is absolutely essential — even if viewed only from a physical standpoint. A
human child has no chance of survival at all, if his parents do not
provide him with care from the moment of his birth and do not continually
promote his bodily well-being and development. Not the birth,
but the care is the true cause of human increase.

But r'vah includes more than this. The parents are obligated to reproduce
themselves through their children: They must recur in the image
of their children; and the children are to resemble their parents —
not only physically, but spiritually and morally. The parents are to plant
and nurture in their children the best of their spiritual and moral powers.
In short, their duty is to form and educate their children spiritually
and morally. Only then will they recur in the image of their children
and fulfill the mitzvah of רְב֛וּ  .

כִבְשֻׁ֑הָ
refers to property (see Commentary, v. 26). Man is commanded
to master the earth and subdue it. His task is to acquire the products
of the earth and to transform them, so that they become fit for his
purposes. Acquisition of property is prerequisite for the tasks of home
and society. Property serves as an instrument with which home and
society achieve their aims. Thus, the acquisition of property becomes
a moral duty.
The mitzvah of äåùáëå, however, is written here last, which implies
a limitation: There is no moral value to property, unless it is devoted
to home and society. It is a person’s duty to acquire material assets, in
order to build a home and to further the society. He should not build
a home and support the society in order increase his assets and his
wealth.

The mitzvah of וְכִבְשֻׁ֑הָ is given at once to both sexes; they are to
collaborate in harmony so as to fulfill this mission of man. Nevertheless,
before establishing his home, man must first acquire material assets,
and this duty — subduing the earth, so as to further man’s aims — is
primarily incumbent only upon the male. For this reason the duty of marriage and
of establishing a home is assigned directly only to the man, and only
to him is it given as an unconditional duty. To the woman it is given
as a conditional duty; it applies to her, only when she joins her husband.
(See Yevamos 65b.)

These commands place the Divine imprint on every aspect
of familyand communal life. The Torah does not recognize the compartmentalization
of life into God-oriented or “religious,” on the one hand, and
profane, untouched by things Divine, on the other. God claims all of
life for His service and for the fulfillment of man’s mission as adom. This
applies, first and foremost, to family and communal life.








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