Baby Birds and Their Mother
By Rabbi Avi Billet
Issue of August 28, 2009 / 8 Elul 5769
Here is a contradiction for you. The Torah commands that if a person happens to come across a bird nest with a mother bird sitting with her eggs or babies, we are to send away the mother in order to take her offspring. (Devarim 22:6-7) This mitzvah is one of two mitzvot directly linked to lengthening a person’s life. It is so special, Naftali Weinberger wrote a 314-page practical guidebook on how to do it properly (Shiluach Hakan: A Practical Guide; Feldheim Publishers).
On the “Bird Watch Ireland” website, I found a page which states strongly that a bird’s nest that contains eggs or baby birds in it should be left alone (http://tinyurl.com/shiluach).
They suggest that if one comes across a bird’s nest, the nest “should be left strictly alone! Even casual observation of the nest can cause stress to the parents and young birds. Unless you have experience of caring for birds, taking a baby bird in to care may often reduce its chances of survival; the majority of hand-reared baby birds do not survive.”
The people who write this are experts in the care of birds, and are very sensitive to the fact that an untrained human touch can be detrimental to bird survival.
We, who are commanded against “Tzaar baalei chaim” – causing pain to animals (Bava Metzia 32b) — should be particularly sensitive to living animals, and even respectful with animal meats and skins when we use them for such purposes as food or to produce Torahs and tefillin.
Yet the Torah tells us (Devarim 22:6-7), “When you come across a bird’s nest with eggs or baby birds — do not take the eggs or babies while the mother is there. Send the mother away and then take the babies, in order that it be good for you and you merit long life.”
Jewish law requires the sending away of the mother bird to teach a person to be a compassionate being (Ramban). The compassion is learned from the fulfillment of a different commandment of, “Do not slaughter the parent [animal] and baby [animal] on the same day.” (Vayikra 22:28) We are not permitted to wipe out an animal family in one day, as this would be an evil characteristic, even though animals are “merely” animals. We should not become insensitive through our domination over animals.
Would it not be more compassionate to leave the baby birds alone?
In fact, this commandment is not meant to teach us to show compassion to animals, because the Mishnah in Brachot 5:3 states, “One who says ‘Your mercy is demonstrated through the treatment of the mother bird’ is to be silenced.”
I am comfortable saying I do not understand the mitzvah. Why would anyone want to take the baby birds? If they are fertilized eggs at the earliest stage of development, I understand. If they are unfertilized eggs, I understand. (If they are unfertilized, perhaps there is no mitzvah, because the bird is not a “mother.”)
But if the baby birds are developed in the egg, or if the baby bird is already born, what is the point of taking the baby bird? The egg is useless, unless you plan to feed it to your pet alligator, and for what purpose would one want a baby bird? For its meat? Because it will grow up in captivity? Because it will become a parent to more baby birds? It has no meat on it; it will most likely die on its own, rendering it neveilah (Biblically prohibited from Jewish consumption), and will be no more useful than the bug you stepped on last night.
In Weinberger’s book, he notes that according to halakha one may “make a kinyan hagbahah” on the eggs or babies (pick them up for a moment and say their yours) and then put them back – meaning you need not keep them. While this partially answers the question — what if someone chooses to keep the baby birds? What is the point if they will most probably die?
How is this cruel behavior to the babies (as compassionate as it may be to the mother, which the mishnah in Brachot has declared irrelevant) justified in the Torah?
Please don’t misinterpret this question as an animal rights protest. If there were a way that the baby birds somehow benefit humans, I would understand.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch says the focus is not on the babies for a reason. “If she is occupied with her maternal functions, she is protected from harm and must be let free.” The focus is on the mother bird – not on her feelings, but on her role.
In essence, the mitzvah is symbolic, emphasizing the highly valued role of motherhood. The ability to produce and sustain life, to raise babies from their infancy until they are ready to go out into the world, must be preserved. Sparing the mother bird teaches us to value the role mothers play, even though in our human existence, we have dominion over animals.
While Rabbi Hirsch’s approach is helpful in understanding the meaning of the mitzvah, I am still unsatisfied with the treatment of the eggs or babies, if they are not returned to the tree.
Do you have a good answer?
See the follow up to this post here
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