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Jewish Thinking

Jewish Thinking

Why Do We So Much Want Children?

Published on Monday November 23th, 2020

In Hebrew, the word "child" has the same etymological root as the word "construction". A builder carefully chooses the appropriate equipment and builds a building that is worth much more than the trees and stones that he used to build it.

We humans follow the same thought process. A process by which a person receives data, processes it and derives a new understanding. This is called intelligence. Note that in Hebrew, the word "intelligence" comes from the same etymological root as the words "construction" and "child".

Man is eager to leave something behind that will remain on earth forever. He wants this "construction" to faithfully reflect the work of his life. In this way, man continues to live forever.

However, buildings, triumphs and other discoveries of a generation are never more than statistics and footnotes in subsequent generations' history books. This world is a fleeting world, and everything we strive to create will eventually sink into oblivion in the following year, two years or following century. So, we end up with the same problem: What can we do to build something that is truly permanent?

The answer is that we are building eternal life through our children and the families that will come from them in the future.

Every parent cares for his children beyond what he cares for himself, and he is even ready to sacrifice his life for them. At the root of all this, in their unconscious mind, parents know that their life is inherently limited, and that through their descendants, they will live forever.

Women are the true foundation of the Jewish home, endowed with a superior vision that guides them through the myriad challenges of raising children and managing the home.

Among their many missions, that of consolidating the spirituality of the home is the most important. The woman is the frame that allows the spiritual fulfillment of her husband.

What underlies a woman's unconscious desire to have children is the need for continuity, immortality. Women were created to build according to their nature. Through children, who are the embodiment that best expresses the personality of women, they will merit eternity.

Rachel Imeinu cried in front of Yaacov: "Give me children, otherwise I will die". She was saying, without children, I cannot truly express my personality. Without a child, I have no existence.

It is interesting to note that the letters of the word "mother" in Hebrew are immediately followed in the alphabet by those which form the word "son". This implies that the natural extension of the woman lies in her children.

Rabbi Yigal Avraham - © Torah-Box

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