ערך בנים

Therefore a person must be careful and guard himself very much — not to be drawn after the evil thoughts that the yetzer hara introduces into his mind through his thefts and strategies. Rather, he should strive with all his strength to banish and uproot the thief from within himself. For in truth, the choice is in the person's hand to banish him — for the thought is in the person's hand to direct it as he wishes, and therein lies the essential free will. Fortunate is he who guards his thoughts well — he shall be called holy. All the children one merits to beget in holiness, according to the law of our holy Torah — all of them are in the aspect of the repair of the bris. And therefore the inheritance passes to the children — for all the money and livelihood is drawn — [drawn] — from the aspect of the repair of the bris. And through his children, who are in the aspect of — [in the aspect of] — the repair of the bris, receiving his inheritance and the fruits of his labor — through this a repair is drawn for the soul of the departed, as is explained in the inner teachings.

The essential purpose of the commandment to beget children is this: when one begets a soul from Israel, he is adding to the congregation of Israel one soul — through which the houses of holiness multiply exceedingly — [exceedingly] — beyond what mouth can speak or heart can conceive. Through this he causes great and wondrous delights to arise before G-d. And therefore the essential commandment is to beget an upright son — a son who will uphold the Torah and the commandments. And even if not every person merits that his children should be Tzaddikim and fully — [fully] — upright — even so, since they are within the fold of Israel, who believe in G-d — [in G-d] — and in His Torah, and his father educates him from his youth to engage in Torah and prayer and to enter synagogues and houses of study, and to be added to — [to] — the holy — [holy] — congregation of Israel, to pray with them together every day and to say: "Hear, O Israel, etc." — behold, this causes wondrous delights before Him, blessed be He, since he has added a soul to the holy congregation of Israel. And perhaps offspring of excellence will emerge from them [yifkon minei banin d'me'alei] — that they will be fully righteous Tzaddikim. And therefore the essential thing is that he see to educate his sons to walk in the way of the holy faith as we have received it from our forefathers — as it is written: "And you shall teach them thoroughly to your children, etc." [Deuteronomy 6:7] and "and you shall teach them to your children, etc." [Deuteronomy 11:19]. And especially to distance them with every manner of distancing from the wicked sects that have arisen in these generations to cause — G-d forbid — the youth of the Children of Israel to stray from the very foundation of the holy faith, and to teach them external wisdoms and the Tanach with evil commentaries, etc., as is widely known. But since the majority of the upright Children of Israel educate their children in the ways of our ancestors from of old — that they spend their days only upon Torah and prayer, etc. — they are thereby adding holy souls to the holy congregation of Israel, and the houses multiply greatly. And therefore their reward is very great — and through this the redemption will come, as it is written: "The smallest shall become a thousand, etc. — I am G-d; in its time I will hasten it" [Isaiah 60:22].

A man and a woman are in the aspect of two opposites — for the man's seed is white, from which come bones, etc., and she contributes red, etc. And white and red are two opposites. And it is impossible for there to be offspring except through the aspect of sholom [peace] — which joins the two opposites. And sholom is drawn through faith in the sages — through which comes the essential offspring.

Our Sages of blessed memory said: "One who does not leave children is called dead." And this is also cited concerning the verse: "A man who dies and has no son" [Numbers 27:8]. But one who leaves upright children is called alive even after his death — for the essential death derives from the blemish of faith in the sages, as explained in the inner teachings. And therefore when he leaves children after him — which is the aspect of the repair of faith in the sages — he is not called dead. Rather, he is alive even then, through the repair [embodied in] his upright children, who engage in the repair of faith in the sages — which is the sum total of all of Torah.

But since the majority of the upright Children of Israel educate their children in the ways of our ancestors from of old — that they spend their days only upon Torah and prayer, etc. — they are thereby adding holy souls to the holy congregation of Israel, and the houses multiply greatly. And therefore their reward is very great — and through this the redemption will come, as it is written: "The smallest shall become a thousand, etc. — I am G-d; in its time I will hasten it" [Isaiah 60:22].