Netzach Newsletter Part Two - Parasha Ki Teitzei 5780

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To submit a Dvar Torah please contact Rabbi Alan Wilkinson

Thoughts for Parshas Ki Seitzei 5780

By Rabbi Alan Wilkinson

“If you come across a bird’s nest ... You must first send away the mother, and only then may you take the young.”

(Devarim 22:6-7) There are advantages to ‘Staycations’. One day over the summer I read a message on one WhatsApp group from an individual who was on holiday in the UK. They had come across a Chicken and an egg and wondered if they could fulfil the mitzvah of shiluah ha-kan.

The mitzvah of shiluach ha-kan, commanded in this week’s parashah, is a mitzvah which is quite difficult to understand: If you come across a nest where a mother bird is roosting on her young birds or eggs, you should not take the eggs or young birds while the mother is roosting on them. Instead, you should send the mother away and then take the young birds or eggs for yourself. While the Torah says that performing this mitzvah is “good for you and will prolong your days,” the Torah does not explain the rationale behind it, and indeed, Chazal tell us that it is a gezeiras ha-kasuv, a Torah decree that we do not understand.

The Rishonim offer several possible explanations as to why the Torah would command us to perform shiluach hakan. Rambam, for example, explains that shiluach ha-kan shows Hashem’s mercy on His creations, similar to the prohibition against slaughtering a mother animal and her offspring on the same day, as animals instinctively love their young and suffer when they see them slaughtered or taken away. Ramban, who rejects Rambam’s explanation, writes that the concern is not for the animal’s feelings, but rather to inculcate compassion in people; to accustom people to act mercifully to each other.

R’ Bechayei writes that this mitzvah symbolizes the concept that people should avoid doing anything that will destroy a species, for to slaughter mother and children on the same day is akin to mass extermination. The Zohar explains that this mitzvah is meant to awaken and intensify Hashem’s mercy on His creations. The pain which the mother bird suffers when she is sent away and forced to abandon her young “awakens the forces of mercy in the world” and releases an outpouring of mercy from the heavens above which alleviates all kinds of human suffering.

While the explanations cited above give us some insight into the rationale for shiluach ha-kan, we are still left with many unanswered questions: If someone happens upon a nest but has no interest in the young birds or eggs, should he still send away the mother and take the eggs? Should one search for such a nest so that he may fulfill this mitzvah? What if the nest is in a tree in your garden?

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[Type here] If you see a mother bird roosting on one or more eggs [or young birds], one fulfills the mitzvah by performing the following two actions: Sending away the mother bird. The Rishonim debate whether or not the mother bird must be lifted by its wings and then cast away, not the easiest thing to do, or if it is sufficient to scare her away by banging on the nesting area with a stick, throwing a stone in her direction or shouting. The basic halachah and the prevalent custom follow the lenient view that it is sufficient to send away the mother bird by scaring her away.

Alternatively, by taking the eggs or the young birds. While a minority view holds that taking the eggs or baby birds is not mandatory, most poskim rule that one does not fulfill the mitzvah if the eggs or baby birds were not taken. After taking the eggs or baby birds and establishing halachic ownership of them, one is not required to keep them; they may be returned to the nest or thrown away.

Is the mitzvah of shiluach ha-kan obligatory or optional? A minority view holds that even one who has no need for the eggs [or young birds] is obligated to send the mother bird away and establish halachic ownership of them.

According to this view, the mitzvah of shiluach ha-kan is an obligation similar to the mitzvah of hashovas aveidah, returning a lost item to its owner. The majority of poskim reject this approach and rule that one is obligated to send away the mother only if you want to keep the eggs or baby birds. Whilst we rule that one is not obliged to send the mother bird away if you have no interest in the eggs or young birds, many poskim recommend that one still does so.

For the mitzvah of shiluach ha-kan to apply the mother bird must be of a kosher species, such as a sparrow, dove, or a pigeon. The mitzvah only applies at the time that the mother bird is actually roosting on the eggs or the young birds. The mitzvah does not apply to a mother bird who is hovering over or feeding the young birds but is not roosting on them. The mitzvah also only applies to mother birds roosting. If you own the bird you cannot perform the mitzvah. Birds that are raised domestically, like chicken or turkey, are exempt from shiluach ha-kan, as the mitzvah applies only to birds that do not have an owner who cares about them.

Earlier I mentioned that the reward stated for shiluach ha-kan is “so that it will be good with you and your days will be lengthened” [Devorim 22:7]. The only other mitzvah in the Torah that records this same formula for reward is the mitzvah of honouring one’s parents (Kibbud Av v’Em). [Devorim 5:16] Rabbi Frand shlita points out that the Baal HaTurim identifies a very interesting difference between the reward of Shiluch ha-kan and that of Kibbud Av V’Em. With Shliuach ha-kan, the Torah first writes, “It will be good for you” (l’ma’an yitav lach) and then “you will have long life” (v’ha’arachta yamim). With Kibud Av v’Em, the order is the opposite: the Torah first says that you will have long life (l’ma’an ya’arichu yamecha) and then “in order that it will be good for you” (u’l’ma’an yitav lach).

Why does the Torah reverse the order?

Rabbi Frand provides an answer from the Shemen HaTov (chelek 4). The Shemen HaTov writes that with the mitzvah of Shiluach Ha-kan, the reward of “it will be good for you” will come relatively soon. If one is 20 years old when he performs this mitzvah, the promise of “long life” is something off in the distant future. At 20 years old, people think that they are going to live forever. The Torah therefore starts with the more immediate, “it will be good for you” as the primary reward and “long life” as an afterthought.

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[Type here] The Torah states the rewards in the reverse order regarding honouring one’s parents because the mitzvah of Kibud Av v’Em can be an extremely difficult mitzvah. This is particularly true for those of us who are fortunate enough to have aging parents when the mitzvah of Kibbud Av v’Em is really needed the most. If one has elderly parents who require a terrific amount of care, it can be exceedingly difficult and trying. The Torah tells us “Take care of your parents,” particularly your elderly parents who need it the most. Therefore, the Torah does not start with “things are going to be great for you.”

With Kibbud Av v’Em, instead of starting by promising that it will (immediately) be great for someone who performs this mitzvah, The Torah emphasizes a different reward: “One day you yourself will get old. Do you know who will take care of you when you get old? It will be your children. They will take care of you exactly as you took care of your own parents.”

If children see parents taking care of elderly grandparents and they do it with love, kindness, and devotion, then when the parents themselves reach the stage of “Arichas Yamim” [long life], it will be “L’ma’an yitav lach”. They will reap the reward of their own service to their parents by the fact that their children will serve them and “it will be good for them”.

As Rabbi Frand says the point is that the way in which parents treat their parents makes a profound impression on children. When parents treat their parents in an honourable fashion, it makes it far more likely that their children will treat them in an honourable manner as well, when the time comes. Therefore, the pasuk of Kibud Av v’Em implies: Honour your parents in order that (when) you reach long life, it will be good for you (because of the example you set in Kibud Av v’Em for your children).

Good shabbos.

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