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The desire to have children is pretty well hardwired into the human psyche. It takes a lot to override that instinct. Can you imagine being so forlorn and lost that you negate the possibility to procreate? But we are there now, thanks to Trump Derangement.
After Election Day, Planned Parenthood reported a 760% increase in IUD appointments and a 1200% increase in vasectomies. Laurie Pohutsky, a Democratic state representative from Michigan, announced that she underwent a voluntary sterilization procedure as a result of the election. And, of course, transgender surgery also usually results in the inability to have children.
To permanently sterilize yourself is to abandon all hope for the future – because you don’t believe there is any point in bringing new life into the world. Only someone who is certain that there is no future worth living in will negate even the possibility of making babies.
By contrast, religions that celebrate life are religions that cling to hope – of a future that is better than the present (and certainly much better than the past). It is because of hope that people will invest in the future.
Religion is more than the name of a deity, or specific rituals. Faith speaks to our entire way of thinking, the way we select and assess inputs and the filters we apply when we make decisions. And the faith of liberals has sunk to such a depth of accumulated bat-guano that the only certainty they embrace is certain death with nothing to live for.
The hopeless TDS mental illness offers only hopelessness and despair, a death-spiral in every way. This is in sharp contrast to both traditional Christianity and Judaism. Indeed, it may well be that hope is the single most important defining characteristic of both religions: a belief that the future can and will be better (whether in this world or the next).
The Hebrew word for “hope” is kaveh, and it is part of the liturgy and even Modern Israeli nationalism (cities are named after hope, as is the national anthem). But in the Torah, the word is not generally used this way.
Instead, kaveh and its essence, mikveh, are more elemental, because the word is intimately connected to the basic precursor of life: water. Here are the verses:
God said, “Let the water below the sky be gathered (kaveh) into one area, that the dry land may appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth and called the gathering (mikveh) of waters Seas. And God saw that this was good. (Gen. 1:9-10)
I hope (kaveh) for Your deliverance, O G-d! (Gen. 49:18) [This is a foreshadowing of the splitting of the sea, as discussed here.]
And G-d said to Moses, “Say to Aaron: Take your rod and hold out your arm over the waters of Egypt—its rivers, its canals, its ponds, all its gatherings (mikveh) of water—that they may turn to blood; there shall be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.” (Ex. 7:19)
These verses show that this word, that we today think of as meaning “hope,” actually refers to the very first steps toward creating and nurturing life. Gathering the waters allowed dry land – and life – to appear. Groundwater similarly was the only source of critical water in Egypt.
And the last use of this word in the text is found discussing spiritual life and growth in addition to physical life.
However, a spring or cistern (mikveh) in which water is collected shall be pure [capable of elevation]. (Lev. 11:36)
The arc of this word is complete. The word for “Hope” is the building block around which G-d creates the world – he pools the waters. Removing the impediment allows life to proceed.
In Egypt, the same kaveh sustains life. People need to drink, after all.
But the grand story arc in the Torah is mostly about our states of mind. Spiritually, it is kaveh, hope, that allows the people to procreate despite the oppression of slavery in Egypt, because we anticipate deliverance.
And lastly, the spiritual meaning of a mikveh is that we use it to reset ourselves, to wash away the past and stride once more into the future. It is the mikveh, the essence of hope, that makes it possible for us to elevate ourselves toward holy and productive relationships with each other and with G-d.
This word – this very concept – is integral to any society that thrills at the opportunity to delight in their grandchildren.
Discussion (30)
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I nominate those who voluntarily remove their ability to reproduce for "eternal achievement" Darwin Awards
They are awarded to those that managed to kill themselves by doing something particularly stupid. To wit
These people are doing our descendants an immense service! They deserve to be honored!
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How confident are you that you have correctly ascertained the singular reason that all people who do not want children share?
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I write to try to better understand, and to do that, a thesis needs to be struck. I invite inputs and corrections.
I admit that I do not really understand those who sterilize themselves. Nevertheless, they certainly seem to be a deeply unhappy bunch.
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-Some people can’t reproduce for some health reason. That is understandable. Society will still go on. This has always been a fact of nature.
-Some don’t reproduce because they house fears of what kind of world they are bringing children into. These are irrational fears like those who hate Trump hold or those who have fallen for the scare-mongering about global warming. This is a sign of a sick society, a godless one. We can’t survive too many of them.
-Some people marry too late to reproduce or to reproduce at replacement rate. This is a real problem.
-Some people become or born homosexual and don’t create marriages that can reproduce. Society has continued in the past despite a small percent predestined to be attracted to the same sex. Sadly, the explosion of such lifestyles by choice has created far more “marriages” of this sort than naturally occurring. The effects have yet to be seen as nature takes its course.
-Some people don’t want to reproduce because they don’t want the burden of parenthood. Society can go on as long as there aren’t too many of them. It is now questionable whether or not we have reached that point.
Western countries are no longer reproducing at replacement rate. Much of this is by choice. That is a sign of a dying culture. Mark Steyn wrote about this problem in Europe in 2006. Westerners there aren’t reproducing at replacement rates but immigrants are. Western culture is dying there as those people have become more secular. The problem has now reached the US. We have imported many poor people. Our productive people are too busy to reproduce at replacement rate but the entitlement takers are reproducing at a greater than replacement rate. The country has become more secular along the way. Many of the secular folks aren’t just content these days to be secular themselves but have an overt war on our Judeo- Christian values. It won’t end well . But then hasn’t that been the way throughout mankind’s history?
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Au contraire. That's quite a provocative remark and entirely too strong. To be permanently sterilized simply means that you decided that you've had enough children. I've had 5. That's enough. But I have lots of hope for the future, much more than I did a year ago.
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