This week’s Torah portion, Parshat Ki Teitzei, contains both some of my favorite commandments of Judaism and also some of the ones that make me most upset at Torah. Ranging from mitzvot (commandments) that deal with marrying captive women and laws about paying workers on time, to laws about rape and laws about how to poop and cover up one’s waste, this parsha (portion) is so full of wide-ranging mitzvot, we could study each individual mitzvah (commandment) every Shabbat and still not get through all of them.
One of my favorite commandments that appears in Ki Teitzei (that I have never practiced, and maybe never will) is the following:
כִּי יִקָּרֵא קַן-צִפּוֹר לְפָנֶיךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּכָל-עֵץ אוֹ עַל-הָאָרֶץ, אֶפְרֹחִים אוֹ בֵיצִים, וְהָאֵם רֹבֶצֶת עַל-הָאֶפְרֹחִים, אוֹ עַל-הַבֵּיצִים–לֹא-תִקַּח הָאֵם, עַל-הַבָּנִים
שַׁלֵּחַ תְּשַׁלַּח אֶת-הָאֵם, וְאֶת-הַבָּנִים תִּקַּח-לָךְ, לְמַעַן יִיטַב לָךְ, וְהַאֲרַכְתָּ יָמִים
If, along the road, you chance upon a bird’s nest, in any tree or on the ground, with chicks or eggs and the mother sitting over the chicks or on the eggs, do not take the mother who is upon her young. You must send the mother away and you may take the young, in order that you may fare well and have a long life (Deuteronomy 22:6-7).
This commandment, called shiluach haken (sending away from the nest), takes up the case of someone who finds a bird’s nest with a mother bird roosting over either eggs or chicks. That person is welcome to take eggs or chicks, but not in the presence of the mother bird. And they may not take the mother while leaving the eggs, or take both mother and eggs. They have to chase the mother bird away before taking the children. And doing so, the commandment states, will bring good and increase one’s life.
This law is at once fascinating, perplexing, and problematic. If it is a law about animal cruelty, it seems to miss the mark. After all, if someone shoos away a mama bird and she returns to find her eggs or her babies gone, how is she going to feel? Is discovering her children missing better than watching someone take them? Perhaps, but I’m not convinced. The emotional pain for the mother is still great, possibly even greater, for not knowing the story of how her babies disappeared.
As someone who has studied shechita (the laws of animal slaughter) and learned how to slaughter chickens, I have thought a lot about the ethical consumption of animals and the many laws our tradition presents on how we are supposed to treat animals. Our tradition understands the complexity that comes with being in relationship with animals, with considering animal cruelty while also permitting eating animals and animal products.
What then is this commandment about, if not about considering animal cruelty?
The Torah presents this as a story of one who did not have it in their mind to find eggs or chicks to eat. Rather, it is the case of one who is going along her way when she happens upon a nest and finds herself with an opportunity.
This mitzvah, I think, is less about animal cruelty and more about teaching us to slow down, to act sustainably, and to confront our propensity for greed.
On slowing down: Shiluach haken teaches that we cannot simply grab whatever we want the moment it appears before us. We have to notice what is there, take a breath, understand the situation, and only then can we act based on what we see.
On sustainability: Morose as it may be, taking the eggs but not the mother is an affirmation of life. The mother who has laid eggs is likely to be able to lay more eggs. Responsible consumption means leaving opportunities for regeneration and repopulation to occur. This law is understood to be about birds found in the wild, not about domesticated animals, reminding us that we need to be particularly careful about how we interact with nature and understand that even the little choices each of us make individually can have a big impact.
On greed: So much of the book of Deuteronomy reminds us that what we are given is a gift – land, home, life itself – and that those gifts are not guaranteed. So too this mitzvah of shiluach haken reminds us that we are sometimes presented with opportunities and that those are to be taken with gratitude and an attitude of responsibility.
Maimonides (a 12th-century Torah scholar, philosopher, and doctor) teaches that perhaps this mitzvah is that, in reminding us of the parent-child relationship that exists between the birds, we may actually choose not to take anything at all. Or we may choose to take, but at least we will do so with full awareness of our power and responsibility.
So given that most of us aren’t regularly traipsing through the woods, looking to take eggs if we chance upon a bird’s nest, we can approach this mitzvah as an opportunity for spiritual practice. Where in your own life could you use a little slowing down, especially in this month of Elul? How could you make a small choice to do something more sustainably than you are already doing? What could you consume a little less of? And what blessings do you have in your own life that you may be able to share with others?
Shabbat shalom,
Rav Leah