Jerusalem – Have at least 12 children, do not use birth control, and continue having children after 40. This is the formula for overcoming sterility and long-term bachelorhood in the Religious Zionism movement put forth by renowned Rabbi David Batzri.
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In a women’s assembly in Jerusalem held Thursday in Jerusalem, the rabbi asserted that “a girl who wishes to marry must take upon herself already on the first date an obligation to have no less than 12 children.” In addition, he encouraged women to put pressure on one another not to delay pregnancy after getting married and not to wait long in between births.
The rabbi’s remarks were reported by Kol Hai radio correspondent Dvora Ginzburg.
Rabbi Batzri, a respected kabbalist and head of Nahar Shalom Yeshiva, participated in a prayer assembly held in the Old City’s Jewish Quarter and at the Western Wall together with about one thousand single women searching for “respectable mating.” Under the title “Women in Wait,” they heard tips for getting themselves out of their distressful situation.
The rabbi claimed that using birth control damages household income. He said, “When you use control methods, you stop abundance. When you see a woman whose youngest child is three, this means that she has been using control methods for three years. Convince her not to do this.”
‘Don’t believe the doctors’
The rabbi also spoke on the issue of abortions. “Doctors are liars,” he said. “Don’t believe them. They tell you that the fetus is not healthy. This is only to protect themselves from lawsuits. It is forbidden to listen to doctors. Women who have consulted with me and didn’t abort their child have the most healthy and righteous children.”
Rabbi Batzri added, “Even at the age of 40 and up, it is possible to give birth, and it isn’t dangerous.”
During the gathering, prayers were held for the participating women. Later, they also heard a lecture from Rebbetzin Yemima Mizrahi, whose lessons and talks have become increasingly popular in recent years.
“When a girl goes on a date, she doesn’t come alone, but says to the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘Come along! We’re going on a date,'” said Mizrahi. She later grumbled that “the only exercise single girls do is moving the mouse on Dosi-Date (a popular religious dating website).”
Mizrahi also claimed that women having a hard time finding a match have issues respecting their parents or tend to respect their fathers more than their mothers.
Mizrahi said she was recently asked during a radio interview what her opinion is on desperate single girls who “do forbidden things.” She said the question sorrowed her, and responded, “This is a fringe phenomenon. Most girls are growing stronger, especially after the Gush Katif evacuation.”
It takes extraordinary parents to raise twelve children. With thinking like this, is it any wonder that there are such huge social problems in the community?
if we let others decide for us what to do then we are like robots no better rabbi batzri wants to control peoples minds its ludicrous its a no brainer you have free will and someone wants to dictate to you youre life that you listen to youre inner self whats good for you you know best he the rabbi doesnt make a living fo you you have to strugle for youre own sustanence have self worth and do what right for you
How many children did you have and how many years imbetween where they Rabbi? It is very insensitive to say that if a person’s yougest child is three they must have been on birth control – Does the Rabbi know if the women perhaps had miscarriages or any other complicating issues? It is no ones buisness to stick thier noses into the lives of people so but out and take care of other problems like men and boys smoking!!!! That surely wreaks havoc on parnassah, shalom bayis and income!
What?!?! someone who’s child is 3 and doesn’t have another convince them to have more! I wish I was able to some times it’s not as easy as people think I wish it was so easy to get pregnant. In the times of the Gemara women nursed their babies until they were five and they were unable to get pregnant for the first 2-21/2 years
Sorry. This is a crock. There are many rabbonim who are mattir birth control. The best form is tuition.
It is a mitzvah to have a girl and boy no where does it say the more the merrier and have a nervous breakdown
I bet he has factual data to support his comment! He has done thorough research and thru that has come to the conclusion that larger families have more income!
getting an education and jobs actually increases income! try that!
When you see a woman whose youngest child is three, this means that she has been using control methods for three years.”
with all due respect, just because a women’s child is three years old DOES not mean she is on birth controll! there are many times when a women has a hard time having a second child! often she may be on treatment to try to have a nother. in addition the added pressure of having children right away is what causes one to have a hard time having a child. and lastly not every mom is able to have a dozen children as nice as it is. someone has to take care of the children and marry them off.i think the issuue should be as long as one can manage so many children that is how many children she should have.
i did not read the whole thing but i think something is lose up their in the rabbis head.
Does this mean that those families that have 12 children don’t need our help for their tuition, food, housing costs any more? I expect to have far less requests for tzedaka from that sector of the community. Cool.
Hashem Oiz L’Amo Yiten!!
I don’t want to sound disrespectful, but does Rabbi David Batzri have at least 12 children himself? If so, how does he provide for them? Perhaps after moshiach comes and we won’t have to worry about financial matters, then having 12 or more children might make sense. For now, some of us can’t even afford marriage and one child.
“Doctors are liars,” he said. “Don’t believe them.
Isn’t the Rabbi also known as a liar? Over 10 years ago there was a story about rav Batzri taking a dibbuk out of a woman. In the end it was found that the whole thing was staged.
Of course I wouldn’t believe all the details in the story either.
All the posters don’t understand what this rabbi means if a rabbi has more kids HIS income is larger everytime he marries off a kid he goes collecting in the USA
“When you see a woman whose youngest child is three, this means that she has been using control methods for three years. Convince her not to do this”
Isn’t Rav Batzri advising people to act like Penina, who was punished for bothering Chana about the fact that Chana didn’t have children? Various medical conditions can render a woman infertile. Also, many women have to use birth control because of medical conditions which make getting pregnant very dangerous for them. Women may not like having to explain to nosy people exactly why they can’t have more children and the whole subject can be very sore, hurtful, and embarrassing to them.
BTW if i remember correctly the last time i checked the chumash i dont remember seeing Adam Harishon, Avraham Avinu , Yitzchok Avinu, Moshe Rabbeinu, Aahron Hakohen, should i go on and on they didnt have 12 Children. if it was good for them then it is good for us and they did have wealth without having 12 children…….
If a woman is looking for a man to marry who will be able to support 12 or more children, then it is likely that she will stay single forever and have no children.
Is Rabbi Batzril offering to pay tuition bills for everyone?
this fine man says the doctors are full of bulloney; he is right. i know, however, someone else who is full of bulloney (one of many).
Interesting, last time I checked the Avos and Emahos didn’t have 12 children each. Even Penina, Chana’s “tzara” “only” had 10 and that was considered a lot. It is very unhealthy for a woman to be pregnant closer than 18 months apart (that means children are at least 2.5 years apart), in the times of the gemara 2 years was the norm until fertility returned (so children are close to 3 years apart). Not to mention mental health. I find it interesting that women are required to work full time to bring a parnassa in so that their husbands can learn, but also somehow supposed to deliver 12+ children and keep a house while keeping their sanity. Whatever. This is why we all have our own rabbonim.
HA! he is more machmir than the heimishe americans ion boro park/ monsey / lakewood!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Funny,
It seems to me that it is always the yerushalmys with 16 kids who are here collecting to make weddings and to get out of debt…where is the abundant parnosa? Also, who said its a mitzvah to have more kids than you are able to handle financially and emotionally??? How many times do we need to hear about nervous breakdowns and fathers of large families dying of heart attacks and the like before we get it??
He’s 100% right. You see so many wealthy chassidim with large families.
Most women who have breakdowns would of had them regardless of how many/few children they have.
And don’t challenge him by saying who will pay tution, YOU will.
he says woman should have a baby right away, not every one can, some people it takes couple of years i hope we all Daven for one another. my we all be zochah to it soon.
That’s why people have no more respect for rabbis of today! Should I say for all my neighbours – yantes – how much I suffered the lest three years! Shame.
Please, consult your Rav (Moreh Halacha) before applying ANY kabbalistic advice.
Can he cure infertility?
Good luck to him and anyone who wishes to follow him. I was told just the opposite from HaRav Yaakov Kammentsky ZT”L. He said you see in the Torah that they were Meinik (nursed) their children for 2 years, a form of birth control. Therefore Rav Yaakov held that children should be spaced 3 years apart (conception after a 2 year pause). Where are Gedolim like Rav Yaakov today???
articles like this are depressing and make us seem backwards.
My heart swells with pride that we have gedolim like this!!!! Mi K’amacha Yisrael!!!
According to the rabbi, can one practice birth control if she already has 12 children?
That’s not the way of fighting with the Muslims. Rather thich the tout to be educated and be superior with knowledge and not with 12 kids ready to explode.
The Talmud in Ta’anit forbids having children during a drought, unless you are childless. Seems to imply that if you can’t afford it don’t do it!
my rabbi always says a mikubal is called that since they mikabel your gelt!
Rabbi’s like this make me wonder if we are practicing the same religion as the did 2000 years ago?
I think this statement by Harav Batzri shlita is politically motivated. I suspect that the world economic downturn is forcing people (of the Israeli persuasion) to limit family size because “donations” are plummeting in the same way the stock market is plummeting. American “largesse” cannot be expected to go on forever, especially since mortgage foreclosures are up and business insolvencies are up and credit card delinquencies are skyrocketing. Something has to give.
And regarding his comment about physicians, I have regarded all of the doctors I have used throughout my life as “shlichim” or “malachim” and completely trustworthy, moral and decent. (And this was before I became religious!) No matter their race, religion or ethnicity. Calling them “liars” is dangerous, especially since most Haredim have limited education and are likely to believe him.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe also said that women should not practice birth control and having as many children as Hashem gives a person is the key to a happy marriage, shalom bayit and all the blessings. He clearly said that practicing birth control can chasve shalom later affect one’s ability to have children when one “decides” they would now like to have more….
The idea is to just have as many children as one is blessed with from Hashem and to avoid birth control unless there are real medical reasons.
This is the Torah’s opinion and not something to argue about.
i have a lot of respect for what mekubolim say but this sounds a little narrow minded. I think the story got a little twisted by the media.
Having children after you’re Mikayem the Mtzvah of Peru U’Revu is, according to all Rishonim, a Midas Chassidus.
Family planning advice, whether from a rabbi or a doctor, should be made to individual families, not as uneducated and ill-informed doctrinaire pronouncements.
The women at the assembly were looking for “respectable mating”. What does the mitzva of pru urvu have to do with women looking to get married? Is it that people have an attitude about having children which is causing people to have an attitude or problems with getting married?
who is this guy….he looks cookey
I do not see this Rabbi volunteering to contribute anything to the cause.; Some people cannot afford 12 children. A few years ago a young woman went public, she had 6 kids, the last 3 were triplets, the other 3 all in diapers, she was going nuts and was ready to kill herself. Well, how can you just expect one person to just keep on giving birth!! Whose life is more important?? The entire community came together to care for those children because the rabbis ordered it!! She had to go public to get the help!! Nobody — not even her neighbors helped her!! Now, this rabbi, wants women to have 12 children, let him care for them for one day– 24 hours and let him see how EASY it is!! When our kids were small, and I left them with my husband for a few hours, he was never so glad to see me back== The red rug would be rolled out!!
I nursed my kids, but, it didn’t work as birth control, and then I couldn’t nurse the baby because I got pregnant. My rov told me for the baby’s sake to space the children or I wouldn’t be able to nurse them. Also for a woman’s sake and the family’s sake, some women just can’t manage with one baby after the other. It is all very individual and personal and this rov can’t just make a statement like this and include every woman. I’m all for big families, but not if it takes a toll on the mother’s health and the family’s well being.
The issue of birth control is a shaila each one has to ask their own Rav, not one for the blogs. However;
1.If one decides they should have children based on what they can afford, maybe they shouldn’t have any children. Ask all of the Maddoff victims and others such as the rubashkins who thought they were set, and lost everything overnight.
2.anyone who has learned seforim in emuna, such as sha’ar habitochon in the Chovas halevovos, understands that parnassa in entirely in the hands of the ribono shel olam.
3.are trips with the family to florida, pesach hotels ect. more important than having children?
4. If the people in mitzraim and during other difficult times had made such cheshbonos, there wouldn’t be a Klal yisroel today.
The list goes on and on. at the same time, no one knows what is doing by someone else, and we cannot be too careful in making sure not to CV hurt or embarrass someone, as there are many who cannot have children, even after having, and their pain is deep enough without our ading to it.
I don’t see anything crazy here…if u don’t agree don’t do it, but the main thing to be honest with yourself, not to bash a noted authority. The punishment outweighs all your comments’ cheshbonos
Newspaper appeals for yesomim always have a family with 8 kids or more. A smaller family I guess doesn’t rate. Maybe that’s the abundance he means.
I guess the father of 12 who sent ME a letter in the mail BEGGING for money to marry off his daughter didn’t read this article.
How ironic are these comments by a Rabbi who’s never earned a dollar in his life but is supported by rich American’s many of whom’s wives are on birth control!!
So if someone chooses to have 1 or 2 children something must me mentally wrong with that person? Selfish reasons?
Not everyone is made out to have kids let alone a dozen. I find it truly disturbing that yiddish life is all about marrying so you can have babies. Those women have empty eyes, sad lonely eyes. No marriage just overstressed exhausted women with no rights! How many children I want is between me and Hashem the good part is the Rabbis can say what they want but cant make me have the one.
I respect those who have many and do manage to have a marriage/life. To judge a woman by how many kids she has is very sad. I know many men who force their wives to have more kids because the more the better chances are to get all kinds of programs!
I always laugh at those ignorant yentas who assume their neighbor must be sick or never do the mitzvah because they have the one child.