December 19, 2024|י"ח כסלו ה' אלפים תשפ"ה The Greatest Threat Americans Face
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Ask Americans what the greatest threat we face is and you will get a range of answers. Some will say it is global warming and climate change. Others think it is the issue of illegal immigration and unsecured borders. Still others say it is the threat of terrorism or a nuclear war. The truth is it is none of the above.
Our greatest threat is extinction. The National Center for Health Statistics reported the total fertility rate in the United States was 1.62 in 2023. That’s the lowest rate ever recorded in the United States and well below the rate needed to maintain a growing population. Recently, the EU reported another declining birth rate, their lowest in 60 years. Many developed countries’ birth rates are below the rate needed to maintain and grow the population. Projections suggest that by century's end, a shocking 93% of countries, including the UK and the US, will confront underpopulation given the present trajectory. The statistics seems clear - extreme birth rate collapse is the biggest danger to human civilization by far.
The Jewish people are doing our part with a birth rate of 1.7 overall, an average of 3.3 for Orthodox Jews, 1.4 for non-Orthodox Jews, and 6.6 for “Ultra-Orthodox” Jews. Israel’s birth rate remains the highest among countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and is the forum’s only member state reproducing above replacement rate.
The Talmud (Shabbos 31a) reports that each of us will be asked a series of questions by the heavenly court at the end of our lives. One of them is Asakta b’pirya v’rivya, did you occupy yourself with populating the world? The Maharsha points out that we will not be asked whether we fulfilled the mitzvah to have children, because that is beyond our control. We will be asked, asakta, were you oseik, did you take responsibility for continuity, did you contribute to creating a better future, irrespective of whether you had children. The Chochmas Shlomo, Rav Shlomo Kluger, rules that one can fulfill the mitzvah of pru u’rvu, to have children, by caring for children, even if not biologically their own. (It goes without saying that we daven daily that all who want children and who are waiting should be blessed with healthy children who give them nachas.)
One can have no biological children but still be the proud progenitor of generations by living for and being dedicated towards the future. And one can have a large biological family but be entirely consumed with themselves and their own pleasure, indifferent and apathetic to creating continuity and to the next generation.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe and Rebbetzin had no biological children, but they were the parents and grandparents of generations, of worlds of spiritual heirs. Two weeks ago, over 6,500 rabbis who each see and feel the rebbe as a father gathered for the annual Kinus Hashluchim.
As an American, the birth rate collapse is a genuine concern but as a Torah Jew, what it reflects about our society is even more concerning. The world around us is increasingly more concerned with the here and now, with pleasure, comfort, and convenience rather than in the effort, sacrifice, faith, hope, and optimism it takes to bring and raise children in this world. Is it any surprise that we are suffering from a population threat when many states have laws that require insurance companies to cover birth control while simultaneously refusing to cover fertility treatments such as IVF, leaving many couples with the burden of exorbitant expenses when trying to have a child privately?
Soon, in Sefer Shemos, we will read how Moshe Rabbeinu was commanded to make the boards of the Mishkan out of shittim wood. Rashi says that the wood used for the Mishkan came from special trees that Yaakov Avinu planted in Egypt. Just prior to his death, he instructed his children to remove these trees and take the wood with them when they left Mitzrayim. Where did Yaakov get the wood? The Midrash on Vayigash tells us that on his way down to Egypt, Yaakov stopped in Beer Sheva and he gathered cedar wood that his Zayda, Avraham, had planted there years earlier. This wasn’t ordinary wood from ordinary trees. This was intergenerational. It represented and reflected the effort, sacrifice, forethought, and investment of earlier generations.
Are you planting the trees that your great-grandchildren will be nourished by and will build their religious lives from? Do you prioritize building the future over indulging in the pleasure of the present? Is Jewish continuity a concern for you and what are you doing to educate, enrich, empower, and inspire future generations?
Chanukah begins this week and ironically, though it is not even a Biblical holiday, it is perhaps the most observed Jewish holiday, including by those who would not define themselves as observant. Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch writes that the root of the word Chanukah is chinuch because at its core, the battle against the Hellenists was about the continuity of Jewish identity and who would define our future..
A couple of years ago, Yeshivas Rav Yitzchak Elchanon (RIETS/YU) celebrated the 50th anniversary of Rav Hershel Schachter Shlita serving as Rosh Yeshiva. In an interview, he was asked: “What are you most proud of accomplishing in these 50 years?” Rav Schachter responded: “Over this 50-year period I am most proud of raising together with my eishes chayil a wonderful family. To me, that comes way before anything else I accomplished.”
What is your greatest source of pride? How do you define success? Do your calendar and credit card statements reflect a commitment to the future or the present, to others or to yourself, to ensuring our continuity or to prioritizing the here and now?
This Chanukah, let’s touch our candle to others to pay the flame forward, to make our Menorah shine with the light that illuminates the world.