Parshat Ki Teitzei contains the mitzvah of Shiluach Haken;
sending away the mother bird before taking the chicks or the eggs. It would
seem that this mitzvah is meant to instill compassion. Yet the Talmud in
Brachot forbids a person to reference this mitzvah in our prayers when we
beseech Hashem for compassion (Brachot 33).
Upon further analysis, the entire episode
could be construed as cruel. After all, where’s the compassion in taking a
mother bird’s young? The Ramban explains that we are not showing compassion to
birds. After all, we eat birds. But shoo-ing the mother bird is meant to foster
within us more compassion- for our fellow human beings. In this way, it’s like “not
embarrassing the Challah” on Shabbat by covering it before Kiddush. Bread doesn’t
get embarrassed. But we practice our sensitivity even on inanimate objects so
that it is well developed and primed to be directed towards other human beings.
This discussion about Shiluach Haken always reminds me of
something I heard from Rabbi Avraham Rivlin, Mashgiach at Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh.
When a person says that he loves fish, he does not mean what he says. For if he
really loves fish, then he would catch the fish, give it a kiss and then let it
go. Rather, when a person says that he loves fish what he really means is that
he loves to eat fish, or he loves how he feels with his mouth or belly full of
fish. The language of love is expressed towards fish but what is meant is
really an exercise in ego.
We don’t all love fish, but we all should have loved ones in
our life. When we say we love our spouse, we love our relatives, we love our children-
what do we mean? Which kind of love is it? Is it the kind of love that is
sincerely concerned with the other? Or is it an egotistical, self-centered type
of love? Do we want what’s best for our loved ones? Or do we want from our
loved ones what we think is best?
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