One may not desist from (the mitzvah of) procreation unless he has children. Beth Shammai say: Two males, [deriving it from Moses, who separated from his wife after he had begotten two males.] And Beth Hillel say: A male and a female, it being written (Genesis 1:27): "Male and female He created them." [And Moses cannot serve as a precedent, for he acted by Divine fiat.] If one married a woman and lived with her ten years without having children, he may not desist (from the mitzvah). [As we find with Abraham. After living with Sarah for ten years and not having children, he married Hagar. The time that he lived with her outside of Eretz Yisrael is not included, for living outside the land may have contributed (to her childlessness). And all of the time that a man or a woman are sick, or incarcerated, or in any other state where cohabitation is precluded, this is not included in the ten year period.] If he divorced her, she is permitted to marry another. [For it (the childlessness) may be due not to her, but to him. And when he divorces her, he gives her (the amount of) her kethubah, if she claims that it is due to his "not shooting like an arrow." And we impose a ban upon her if she knows otherwise and makes a false claim against him.] The second is permitted to live ten years with her. And if she miscarries, he counts from the time she miscarries. The mitzvah of begetting children devolves upon the man and not upon the woman, [it being written (Genesis 1:27): "Be fruitful and multiply … and subdue it" ("vekivshuhah"). It is written defective, without the vav after the shin (implying that only one is being addressed and that the mitzvah of procreation devolves upon the man, the "subduer" of the woman.)] R. Yochanan b. B'roka said: Of both (man and woman) it is written (Ibid. 28): "And G d blessed them, and G d said to them: 'Be fruitful and multiply.'" [The halachah is not in accordance with him.]
Jerusalem Talmud Megillah
“And the Ninth of Av.” 132This paragraph also is in Ta`aniot 4:9, Notes 370–377. Rebbi Jeremiah in the name of Rebbi Ḥiyya, it should have been logical that one should fast on the Tenth, since on it it was burned. Why on the Ninth? Because the calamity started on it. So it was stated, on the Seventh they entered, on the Eighth they were misbehaving in it, on the Ninth they started the fire, and on the Tenth it was burned. Rebbi Joshua ben Levi fasted Ninth and Tenth. Rebbi Levi fasted on the Ninth and the night of the Tenth. Rebbi Abba bar Zavda in the name of Rebbi Ḥanina: Rebbi wanted to uproot the Ninth of Av but they did not let him. Rebbi Eleazar said to him, I was with you but it was not said so, but Rebbi wanted to uproot the Ninth of Av which fell on a Sabbath but they did not let him. He said, because it was pushed aside, let it be pushed aside. They said to him, let it be pushed to the next day. In a similar case, that which we stated there: “Rebbi Joḥanan ben Beroqa said, for both of them it says, God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply133Gen. 1:28., etc.” Rebbi Eleazar in the Name of Rebbi Ḥanina: Practice follows Rebbi Joḥanan ben Beroqa. Rebbi Abba bar Zavda said to him, I was with you and it was only said, if she asks to be married the law is on her side. He said about them, two are better than one134Eccl. 4:9..
MISHNAH: A man should not rest from being fruitful and multiply unless he has children. The House of Shammai say two males, but the House of Hillel say a male and a female, as it is said “male and female He created them110Gen. 1:27..” If he married a wife and she stayed with him for ten years and had no child he is not permitted to rest. If he divorced her111He also might take a second wife., she is permitted to marry another and the second [husband] is permitted to stay with her for ten years, and if she had a miscarriage she counts from the moment of the miscarriage. The man is commanded to be fruitful and multiply but not the woman. Rebbi Joḥanan ben Beroqa said, for both of them it says “God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply,112Gen. 1:28.” etc.
370This paragraph also appears in Megillah1:6 (מ). Rebbi Jeremiah in the name of Rebbi Ḥiyya, it should have been logical that one should fast on the Tenth, since on it our God’s Temple was burned. Why on the Ninth? Because the calamity started on it3712K. 25:8.. So it was stated, on the Seventh they entered, on the Eighth they were misbehaving in it, on the Ninth they started the fire, and on the Tenth it was burned372Babli 29a, Tosephta 3:10.. Rebbi Joshua ben Levi fasted Ninth and Tenth. Rebbi Abun fasted Ninth and Tenth. Rebbi Levi fasted on the Ninth and the night of the Tenth. Rebbi Abba bar Zavda in the name of Rebbi Ḥanina: Rebbi wanted to uproot the Ninth of Av but they did not let him373Babli Megillah 5b.. Rebbi Eleazar said to him, I was with you but it was not said so, but Rebbi wanted to uproot the Ninth of Av which fell on a Sabbath but they did not let him. He said, because it was pushed aside, let it be pushed aside. They said to him, let it be pushed to the next day. In a similar case, that which we stated there374Mishnah Yebamot 6:6.: “Rebbi Joḥanan ben Beroqa said, for both of them it says, God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply375Gen. 1:28., etc.” Rebbi Eleazar in the Name of Rebbi Ḥanina: Practice follows Rebbi Joḥanan ben Beroqa. Rebbi Abba bar Zavda said to him, I was with you and it was only said, if she asks to be married the law is on her side376If a woman is married childless for ten years she may ask the court to force her husband to give her a divorce with full payment of her ketubah. In her application to the court she must state that her request is in order to be able to marry another man (who implicitly is supposed to be more fertile than the first.) In the Babli Yebamot 65b she is required to state explicitly that she wants to marry another man in order to have children who will be able to care for her in her old age.. He said about them, two are better than one377Eccl. 4:9..