Reply To: Does the Gemoro say that we should have fewer children when times are tough?

artchill, I read Rashi. It is an explanation, but it seems to be inconsistent with the Tanna Kama who is quoted next, who gives permission to the childless to have kids – and it has to do with #s, not with pleasure.

Did someone mention welfare and food stamps? What thread are you replying to?

And I wasn’t making an “argument” that needed to be debunked! I don’t have an agenda on this topic.

I was wondering who was going to wander in with a straw man to take down. You win the sweepstakes.

akuperma, I tend to agree with you, and aderaba, I found it hard to understand that there were many families (among them many of my ancestors) who had documented more than 10-15 kids even in the depths of the crusades and other persecutions, which were in some cases accompanied by famine and exile. Obviously they didn’t hold that this applied, but I was asking precisely that.

Why not? It isn’t just a random thought by R. Lakish. The TK endorsed it with the detailed exception.