If you come across a bird's nest
on any tree or on the ground, and it contains
baby birds or eggs, then, if the mother is sitting
on the chicks or eggs, you must not take the mother
along with her young. You must first chase away
the mother, and only then may take the young.
(Deuteronomy 22:6- 7)
What is the reason for this unusual
mitzvah? Maimonides argues that we send away the
mother bird to teach us compassion. He insists
that animal mothers, just as human mothers, suffer
when their offspring are harmed. In Part 3, Chapter
48 of the Guide to the Perplexed, Maimonides writes:
As far as pain is concerned, there
is no real distinction between the pain of humans
and the pain of animals, because the love and
compassion of the mother for her young is not
reasoned intellectually, but has only to do with
emotions and instincts, which are found among
animals no less than among human beings.
Others have different explanations
for the mitzvah. A Mishna (Torah commentary) in
Tractate B'rachot, Chapter 5, Mishna 3, supports
a view that aspects of compassion are beside the
point. The Mishna lists three occasions when a
person praying must be silenced, and one case
is when the worshiper prays to G-d to show him
compassion, because G-d's compassion extends even
to a mother bird . In the ensuing Talmudic discussion,
Rabbi Yossi bar Zvida explains that in calling
attention to the mother bird, the worshiper presents
the laws of G-d as "springing from compassion,
whereas they are only decrees." (B'rachot
33b) The foremost Torah commentator, Rashi, in
clarifying Rav Yossi's comment, writes that "G-d
did not give us His commandments because of compassion,
but rather to place upon the Jews a set of decrees
to make them aware that they are His servants."
A modern Torah commentator, Rabbi
Shlomo Riskin, Chief Rabbi of Efrat, has another
perspective on the Mishna in B'rachot. He indicates
that compassion is indeed the issue and indicates
that Maimonides would argue that Rav Yossi reflects
a minority opinion. He stresses that G-d is known
as Harachaman, the compassionate one, that in
the attributes of G-d indicated in the Torah (Exodus
34:6), the first attribute of G-d, after omnipotence,
is mercy, and that many examples of G-d's mercy
are indicated in the Torah.
Why, then is the worshiper to be
silenced? Rabbi Riskin argues that the Mishna's
ruling is meant to teach us that sending away
the mother bird is not a complete act of compassion;
the true act of compassion would be if we were
forbidden to disturb the nest at all. Rabbi Riskin
believes that the permission to take the nestlings
after sending away the mother bird is a concession,
like the concession that G-d gave for people to
eat meat. He asserts that the Torah's ultimate
goal is for us to be so sensitive that we won't
want to disturb the nest at all, but the Torah
deals with reality, with the human instinct to
take it all, mother and child. Hence, while the
commandment to send away the mother bird aims
to sensitize us to the moral ambiguities of eating
foul, it can't be invoked as an ideal of compassion
based on which we can ask for G-d's compassion.
In spite of Rabbi Riskin's consideration
of the limited compassion involved in the mitzvah,
the Torah promises a great reward, a long life,
to the person who fulfills it. (Deuteronomy 22:7)
The only other mitzvah for which long life is
promised is for honoring one's parents, the fifth
of the Ten Commandments. Many have puzzled over
why the same reward is promised for the extremely
difficult mitzvah of honoring parents and the
relatively simple mitzvah of sending away a mother
bird. Perhaps the connection is that when a child
sees his parents showing compassion to a mother
bird, he or she will be reminded of his obligations
to his or her own parents.
But there is an even more incredible
reward associated with the mitzvah that we are
considering. For the Midrash, commentating on
the Torah mitzvah states that "If you fulfill
the law of kindness to birds (by sending away
the mother bird), you will also fulfill the law
of freeing Hebrew slaves, . . . , and you will
thereby hasten the advent of Moshiach." (Deuteronomy
Rabbah 6.3)
How can the simple act of sending
away a mother bird before taking the nestlings
be connected with the Moshiach's time of arrival?
Perhaps we can deduce a possible answer by considering
Jewish teachings on compassion for animals.
While the Torah places humanity
above the animal kingdom and indicates that people
are to have dominion (generally interpreted as
stewardship) over animals, animals are part of
G-d's creation and people have special responsibilities
to them. In the Garden if Eden, there was a harmony
between people and animals. The important Hebrew
term nefesh chaya ("living soul") was
applied to animals as well as people (Genesis
1:21 and 1:24). G-d even made treaties with animals
as well as with people (Genesis 9:9, 10; Hosea
2:20).
Judaism has beautiful and powerful
teachings with regard to showing compassion to
animals. The following are a few examples:
Moses and King David were considered
worthy to be leaders of the Jewish people because
of their compassionate treatment of animals, when
they were shepherds. Rebecca was judged suitable
to be a wife of the patriarch Isaac because of
her kindness in watering the ten camels of Eleazer,
Abraham's servant.
Many Torah laws mandate proper treatment
of animals. One may not muzzle an ox while it
is working in the field nor yoke a strong and
a weak animal together. Animals, as well as people,
are to rest on the Sabbath day. The importance
of this concept is indicated by the fact that
it is part of the Ten Commandments and by its
recitation every Sabbath morning by many Jews,
as part of the kiddush ceremony.
The psalmist indicates G-d's concern
for animals, for "His compassion is over
all of His creatures" (Psalm 145:9). And
there is a mitzvah-precept in the Torah to emulate
the Divine compassion, as it is written: "And
you shall walk in His ways" (Deuteronomy
28:9). Perhaps the Jewish attitude toward animals
is best summarized by Proverbs 12:10: "The
righteous person considers the soul (life) of
his or her animal."
In summary, the Torah prohibits
Jews from causing tsa'ar ba'alei chayim, any unnecessary
pain, including psychological pain, to living
creatures. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, an outstanding
19th century philosopher, author, and Torah commentator,
eloquently summarizes the Jewish view on treatment
of animals:
Here you are faced with God's teaching,
which obliges you not only to refrain from inflicting
unnecessary pain on any animal, but to help and,
when you can, to lessen the pain whenever you
see an animal suffering, even through no fault
of yours. (Horeb, Chapter 60, #416)
In spite of these beautiful and
powerful teachings, the harmony between people
and animals in the Garden of Eden no longer exists.
The Torah relates that after the flood in the
time of Noah, people were given permission to
eat meat (Genesis 9: 3), directly after G-d indicated
that non-human animals would fear and dread human
beings (Genesis 9:2). Commenting on these verses,
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch stated that the attachment
between people and animals was broken, which initiated
a change in the relationship of people to the
world.
Animals today are treated cruelly
in many ways. Rather than being treated as "living
souls", they are often treated as machines,
as useful tools from which profits can be made.
As a result, modern intensive livestock agriculture
is often called "factory farming." In
the United States alone, 9 billion farm animals
are slaughtered annually, after being raised in
cramped conditions where many are denied fresh
air, sunlight, and the fulfillment of their natural
instincts. An indication of just how far we have
moved from compassion to birds, annually in the
United States, over a quarter- billion male chicks
are killed via suffocation immediately after birth,
because they cannot produce eggs, and they have
not been bred to have sufficient meat to justify
raising them to maturity.
Judaism teaches that in the Messianic
times, the harmony between people and non-human
animals that existed in the Garden of Eden will
be reestablished. As Isaiah stated, it will be
a time when ". . . the wolf shall dwell with
the lamb, . . . the lion shall eat straw like
the ox, . . . and no one shall hurt nor destroy
in all of My (G- d's) holy mountain." (Isaiah
11: 6-9) Based on these verses, Rabbi Abraham
Isaac Hakohen Kook, first Chief Rabbi of pre-state
Israel and one of the great philosophers of the
20th century, argued that people will be vegetarians
during the time of Moshiach, as they were in the
garden of Eden.
Judaism teaches that a way to hasten
the coming of Moshiach is to start acting out
the conditions that will prevail during the Messianic
times. For example, there is a teaching that states
that if every Jew properly observes two consecutive
Shabbats, with proper devotion to G-d and concern
about all of G-d's creatures, this would bring
Moshiach.
This may provide insight into the
connection that we are seeking: when one applies
compassion to a mother bird it will lead to greater
concern also for people, and one aspect of this
will be freeing of slaves. For, as Maimonides
indicates, as the Torah mandates that we should
not cause grief to cattle or birds, how much more
careful must we be that we do not cause grief
to fellow human beings. Finally, this increased
compassion for all of G-d creatures will lead
to a greater appreciation of the Creator, and
hence a greater commitment to performing all of
G-d's mitzvot, and finally to that ideal time
of justice, compassion, and harmony that represents
the Messianic vision.
