Shalom Rabbi Kornfeld,
I hope you and your family (and your father-in-law) are all in good health.
I just came across a comment Rav Schachter wrote and I'm having trouble coming up with a source for it. He wrote: " If a Jew will have non-Jewish children[3], or (according to many poskim) even non-observant children, he will not fulfill this mitzvah. "
This is the link where that statement is found } https://www.torahweb.org/torah/2005/parsha/rsch_matos.html
I looked as well as I can at his footnote in the Ein Yaakov, but I'm just not finding this reference at all.
Have you come across these sources "according to many poskim" that Rav Schachter may be referring to ?
(I did try contacting him already with an email address I got from his son, R Shay Schachter, but I'm told that because he has so many questions he receives, there's a good chance I may never hear from him).
Thanks much,
Amiel
I assume that you are referring to the second statement regarding non-observant children, since non-Jewish children is pretty clear in Even ha'Ezer 1:7 that they cannot fulfill Pru u'Revu, and according to some Poskim (Imrei Dovid quoted by Tzitz Eliezer 22:98) even if they became Gerim the father does not fulfill Pru u'Revu.
I believe the Sugya in Berachos which deals with this issue is actually in Berachos 10a where Chizkiyahu refuses to have children since he knows that they will not follow the Torah. The Navi, Yeshayahu, reproaches him and tells him that he must do "what you are commanded," implying that if he has such children he fulfills his Mitzvah of Pru u'Revu.
The Mishnah Berurah (574:12) writes that if a person's children do not keep the Torah, he is termed "lacking children" and is permitted to have relations during years of famine in order to have children who will keep the Torah. This implies that such a person has not fulfilled his Mitzvah. However, this might be a specific, limited Halachah regarding years of famine and not a general rule.
Yoel Domb