Yevamot 64a — the Talmud in English

Behold, Scripture

teaches that the Shekhina does not rest upon fewer than two thousand and twenty-two thousand Israelites.

Suppose that the Israelites numbered two thousand and twenty-two thousand less one, and this one did not engage in procreation;

then

would this not be found to cause the Shekhina to depart from Israel!?

Abba Hanan said in the name of Rabbi Eliezer:

Anyone who does not engage in procreation is

liable for death.

As it is stated: “

And Nadav and Avihu died before the Lord, when they offered strange fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai.

And they had no children.”

».

This:

if

they had had children—

they would not have died.

Others say:

Anyone who does not engage in procreation is

causing the Shekhina to depart from Israel.

As it is stated: “To be a God to you, and to your offspring after you.”

”.

When your offspring are after you,

then

the Shekhina rests

in Israel.

When your offspring are not after you, upon whom does it rest,

the Shekhina—and is it

upon the trees and upon the stones?

Mishna:

If

a man

married a woman, and remained with her for ten years and she did not give birth—

he is not permitted to desist

from the mitzva of procreation. Rather, either he divorces her, or he marries another woman in addition to her. For perhaps he was not privileged to build a family through the first, but he will build a family through the second.

And if

he divorced her

because she did not give birth,

she is permitted

to

marry another man

who has still not fulfilled the mitzva of procreation. For we do not say that she is barren; rather, perhaps the first man was not privileged to build a family through her.

And the second man is permitted to remain with her

for another

ten years.

And if she miscarried—

he counts

ten years

from the time she miscarried.

Gemara:

The Sages taught:

If

a man married

a

woman and remained with her for ten years, and she did not give birth,

he

must divorce

his wife

and give her the ketuba,

for

perhaps he was not privileged to build a family through her.

That is to say: We attribute her not giving birth to the fact that he was the one who was not privileged to build a family through her, and therefore he must give her the ketuba.

Although there is no definitive proof

from the matter

itself,

there is

a remembrance of the matter from what is stated: “And Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her maidservant”

“

at the end of ten years of Abram’s dwelling in the land of Canaan”

“and she gave her to Abram her husband to him as a wife.”

Thus you have learned that until ten years he is not concerned about procreation.

And

to teach you

further:

that dwelling outside the Land of Israel—

for one may say that this sin is what caused the prevention of her pregnancy—

does not count for him.

And as we find with Abraham, that he began counting his ten years from the time of his dwelling in the land of Canaan, and did not include in the count all the many years that he was in Paddan Aram.

And since we have learned that dwelling outside the Land of Israel does not count, for we attribute the prevention of her pregnancy to the sin of dwelling outside the Land of Israel,

therefore:

If

he became ill

during some of those years,

or she became ill, or

if

both of them were imprisoned in the prison,

then those years

do not count for him.

For we attribute the prevention of her pregnancy to the sin that caused them to become ill and to be imprisoned.

He said

he raised an objection

to Rav Nahman: Let us derive it from Isaac,

who remained for twenty years until his wife gave birth, and he did not marry another woman?!

For it is written: “And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean, and it is written: And Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.”

”.

Thus twenty years passed, and Isaac did not marry another woman.

He said to him

Rav Nahman to Rava:

Isaac was infertile

as he will derive below, and he was unable to fulfill the mitzva of procreation.

And we object:

If so,

even from Abraham one cannot learn that he may wait ten years, for

Abraham too was infertile!

And we answer: In any event, one can learn from Abraham, for if Scripture did not come to teach that a person may wait ten years until he marries another woman, then why did Scripture say, “At the end of ten years

But

that

verse, “And Isaac was sixty years old when they were born,” is not superfluous; rather, it comes to teach that a person remains [with his wife] until twenty years.

For that verse,

is needed for [the teaching] of Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba.

For Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: Why were Ishmael’s years counted,

and what do we need with counting the years of the wicked?—

In order to assign by means of them the years of Jacob.

For through the counting of Ishmael’s years we learn during which period of Jacob’s years all the events and happenings that befell him took place.

Rabbi Isaac said: Isaac our father was infertile.

As it is stated: “And Isaac entreated the Lord

opposite his wife

because she was barren.”

It was not stated, “for” his wife,

which would imply that Isaac our father prayed for Rebekah, while she did not pray for him,

but “opposite”

his wife is what Scripture said. And it implies that she too prayed for Isaac.

The verse teaches

that

both of them were infertile,

and they prayed, each for the other.

And we refute:

If so,

if you say as you have said, that they both prayed for one another, this raises a difficulty from what is written: “And Isaac entreated the Lord,”

and the Lord “entreated him,”

and Rebekah his wife conceived.

Why was it said, “He entreated him”? Surely

“He entreated them”

would have been needed

to say

[for Isaac and Rebekah]!

And we answer:

Because the prayer of

Isaac, who was

a righteous man, son of a righteous man, is not like the prayer of a righteous man, son of a wicked man,

such as Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel.

Rabbi Isaac said: Why were our forefathers infertile?

Because the Holy One, blessed is He, longs for the prayer of the righteous.

And Rabbi Isaac said: Why is the prayer of the righteous likened to a pitchfork

[a forked implement ], as it is stated: “And Isaac entreated” the Lord opposite his wife, and it is stated: “And the Lord entreated” him [Rashi, Sukkah]?

Just as this pitchfork turns over

the

produce from place to place—

so the prayer of the righteous turns over

the

attributes of the Holy One, blessed is He, from the attribute of anger to the attribute of mercy.

Rabbi Ami said: Abraham and Sarah were tumtumim

[their male and female organs were covered with skin ],

as it is stated: “Look to the rock” ![](pamud.bmp "

Exact column location")

from which you were hewn

[a male organ was made for him],

and to the hollow of the pit from which you were dug

[a female organ was made for her].