The Joy of Children

The Joy of Children, Part 1

I pray that this 4-part series will save at least one baby’s life and hopefully many more.

You, cherished reader, are about to receive the unique opportunity of being my full partner in saving a life/lives. It won’t cost you a cent and won’t require any more effort than forwarding a link in an email or saying a few critical words to a person who needs them at the right time. It’s that simple, and the payback is really high. How?

Saving a human life is one of the loftiest mitzvas in the entire Torah, and it’s the best life insurance you can ever obtain, in this world and in the next. Here’s how:

The Gemara in tractate Sanhedrin, page 37a, says that anyone who causes the loss of one life is equivalent to someone who has destroyed an entire world. And conversely, anyone who saves one life is equivalent to someone who has saved an entire world.

The Gemara in tractate Bava Batra, page 11a, tells the story of Benjamin the Tzaddik, who was in charge of a charity fund. Once, in the middle of a terrible drought year, a poor widow came to him and asked for charity money. He didn’t want to turn the widow away, but he didn’t have a single cent left in the charity fund. He knew that if he didn’t help the woman and her orphans, they’d die of starvation. So, he gave the woman his own money. A short while later, Benjamin the Tzaddik became critically ill and in danger of losing his life. The archangels that were born out of his good deeds flew up to the Heavenly throne and pleaded to Hashem, “Master of the World! You Yourself declared that anyone who saves one life is equivalent to someone who has saved an entire world! Benjamin the Tzaddik saved the life of the poor widow and the lives of her orphans. By Your own law, does he deserve to die before his designated lifespan has terminated?”

The Heavenly Court immediately ripped the harsh decree against Benjamin the Tzaddik, and granted him another 22 years.

It doesn’t matter what type of life you live or may have lived. If you save even one life, this lofty mitzvah is enough to guarantee your health, income, and welfare in this world and your place in the world to come.

Cherished friend and reader, I’m inviting you to be our partner in saving lives. I’m talking about very special lives, those of tiny unborn babies whose lives are threatened by abortion. As we’ll soon see, just because a baby is unborn, that doesn’t mean that it’s not a human life in every sense of the word.

First of all, the Gemara in tractate Chulin page 95b gives three good signs in a person’s life: A home, a baby, and a wife. Rashi explains that a home, a baby, and a wife are three signs of success. In other words, by building or purchasing a home, by taking a wife, or by giving birth to a child, a person enjoys enhanced success in whatever he’s doing.

Let’s see why every new child is a guarantee for not only success, but longevity as well.

The Heavenly Court judges each person with exacting justice according to each individual’s deeds. Suppose that a person has unwittingly done something that calls for the death penalty. Once the verdict is about to be given, if that person has a child, an angel comes before the Heavenly Court and testifies: “Holy Tribunal, your justice is certainly absolute. I understand that this person deserves the death penalty; but don’t forget – this person is the parent of a small child! Does that child deserve the anguish of growing up without the parent? No!”

The angel’s objection is almost always accepted, and the parent – by virtue of his or her child – is granted an extension of life. The more children a person has, the greater the chances of mitigating severe judgments.

The next time you’re with a gathering of people, look around you; many of the people that you see are alive by virtue of their children and not by virtue of their own merit.
The same goes for livelihood. It could be that a couple is destined to live in poverty. But, they bring a child into the world; if that child is destined to live in financial security, then even though the parents don’t deserve an adequate income, they will receive much more money by virtue of their child. Once again, the more children a person has, the greater the chances of mitigating severe judgments and receiving an enhanced income.

The Zohar teaches us that children, longevity and income are the three highest forms of abundance in this world, and are therefore closely interrelated. That means when a person cuts the spiritual channel of children, he or she also severs the main spiritual channel of abundance that also provides longevity and livelihood. As we’ll soon see, many financial and medical problems can be traced back to an abortion or to birth control that wasn’t sanctioned by a qualified rabbinical authority. It makes your hair stand up. People are walking around with financial difficulties where nothing seems to help. People are going from doctor to doctor, from treatment to treatment, and from medication to medication with no relief in sight. Chances are that the culprit of their suffering is an abortion or unsanctioned birth control.

Children are not only a blessing in life that guarantees a parent’s income and longevity, children are guarantees of success and happiness. Many couple would have been divorced long ago if it wasn’t for the children that they mutually brought into the world. In a divorce settlement, you can’t split a child in half. So, many parents think twice and work out their differences by virtue of the children. Married life isn’t easy; but when times get tough, a person looks at his or her children and subsequently gets the emotional energy and the incentive to keep on going.

Maybe when a person is young and building a career, it might look like the kids are getting in the way. But as he or she gets older, the gratification of children and grandchildren becomes so much more a central part of life. The Gemara in tractate Nedarim, page 64b, says that a person without children is tantamount to being dead. In light of everything we’ve mentioned until now – namely, that children are guarantees of success, longevity, livelihood, happiness, and marital peace, it’s easy to understand how a life without children is like no life at all.

The Gemara in tractate Sanhedrin, page 104a, teaches us that a son can save a father. We’ve already how a son can save a father in this world. But the Zohar tells us that a son can save a parent in the next world too. Here’s how:

Suppose a person leaves this world with uncorrected sins or with little merit. That person’s soul correction will be very difficult if he or she didn’t leave any offspring in the world. But, if a parent leaves a child in this world, then every little good deed that child does, every Kaddish that child says, and every word of Torah that the child learns will serve to elevate the parent to a higher place in the World to Come. A child’s good deeds can literally save a parent from unthinkable suffering and the tremendously harsh verdict of Purgatory.

To be continued