Ki Tetze Answers

Ki Tetze 5717

דברים פרק כב

(ו) 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:

(ז) שַׁלֵּחַ תְּשַׁלַּח אֶת־הָאֵם וְאֶת־הַבָּנִים תִּקַּח־לָךְ לְמַעַן יִיטַב לָךְ וְהַאֲרַכְתָּ יָמִים: ס

Alef.

1.  RaMBaM—A manifestation of avoiding צער בעלי חיים. This sensibility is not unique to humans or a function of intellect. It is an emotional quality that depends upon the “imagination” and in this respect animals and humans both experience these feelings.

Ibn Kaspi—1) The reason behind this Mitzva (as well as others associated with parents and offspring of animals) is to distance human beings from acts of cruelty towards these lower beings.

2) A second reason is to remind man that despite the fact that he may occupy the highest level of the hierarchy of creatures, nevertheless he has a lot in common with those who are lower than he, and must extend respect and consideration not only to his fellow man, but to all other creatures as well, since essentially we are not all that different from them.

ShaDaL—Since the mother bird is prepared to sacrifice itself in order to protect its offspring, were we to take advantage of that fact so that we could capture the mother bird, we would be exploiting an admirable trait in order to cause the possessor of that trait its destruction. We might then further extrapolate that were human beings to exhibit compassion and kindness, it could lead to their downfall and consequently we should avoid acting upon such emotions. (Reminiscent of Neitzsche; Ayn Rand.) Observing the Mitzva of not taking the mother bird under these circumstances will impress upon us the positive quality of the trait of kindness and compassion.

2.  RaMBaM—Animals are a source of good food. Consequently, we are enjoined against cruel interactions with them, including killing them in a painful manner. However, killing them humanely, via Shechita, is permitted.¹

Ibn Kaspi—Man’s nature is such that he desires to consume meat. However, the true intent of the Tora is that he be vegetarian, as can be seen by the original state of affairs in the Garden of Eden, with the consumption of meat being permitted only after the Flood.

ShaDaL—This commentator does not address consuming meat, only the need not to cynically exploit a positive attribute of a parent animal to defend its young.

3.  לגאותנו נתהלל במתת השקר, נדמה שאין יחס בינינו ובין שאר בעלי החי—due to our arrogance thinking falsely that we have received a gift (of superiority), it seems to us that there is no relationship between ourselves and other living creatures.

מאיזה עם שיהיו כמו שקדם—no matter which nation the human being come from, as it was in previous times (before distinctions were made between Jews and other peoples).

כי עיקר הכוונה שלא נאכל בשר רק שנאכל צמחים—the essential intent (of the Jewish tradition) is that we not eat meat, but rather eat plants.

שהוא כאילו נכאל אבינו—it is as if we are eating our father (were we to consume animal life; this appears to be assuming an evolutionary history of humanity!)

ובעבור רחקו יותר חילשו מצוותיו—due to the fact that plants are more distant from mankind than animals, the number of Mitzvot directly connected to plants are fewer.

כחמור ופרד, גם ככרוב ורימון, גם כאבן דומם—we, human beings, are like the donkey and the mule, also like the cabbage and pomegranate, also like the inanimate stone.

לא נברא אלא לצוות לזה—mankind was not created for a purpose other than we be able to fulfill Commandments to extend kindness to good men.

4.  One might suggest that whereas earlier in his commentary, Ibn Kaspi claimed that all of mankind ought to be sensitive to the entire Creation, in his final line, he states that the objective is to extend kindness to a good man, i.e., a particular type of human being, in contrast to all of humanity, let alone all of Creation.

The contradiction could be reconciled by saying that the sensibility whereby we are concerned for all of Creation relatively equally, does not negate the ultimate purpose, i.e., to assure that those who have reached extraordinary levels of spirituality and holiness encounter kindness and support in all of their dealings with members of mankind.

5.  Even if one does not take advantage of the mother’s protective instincts to capture her, nevertheless we are permitted to take her offspring as long as we make sure to cause the mother to flee. That would also appear to be cynical in the sense that we are depriving this bird of her offspring, even if not in her immediate presence. Why wouldn’t the reality of taking the baby birds and/or the eggs reinforce the feeling that we do not have to be sensitive to the needs/weaknesses of others?

Beit.

בראשית פרק לב

(יב) הַצִּילֵנִי נָא מִיַּד אָחִי מִיַּד עֵשָׂו כִּי־יָרֵא אָנֹכִי אֹתוֹ פֶּן־יָבוֹא וְהִכַּנִי אֵם עַל־בָּנִים:

Deliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother with the children.

רד"ק

(יב) אם על בנים - אם עם בנים, וכן אם על בנים רוטשה (הושע י'):

חזקוני

אלא ירא פן יהרוג עשו את נשיו ואת בניו והיינו דכתיב אם על בנים, האם עם בנים דוגמת על עולת התמיד. על פרשה ישרוף.

The point of the verse in Devarim is that the mother should not be present when the babies/eggs are taken. Therefore “עם” perforce has to mean “together with”, “simultaneously”. In the case in Beraishit, Yaakov was not concerned about the timing of the potential deaths of the members of his family, as much as the fact that they might all be killed. Consequently “עם” would mean “along with”, independent of any particular sequence.

Gimel.

1.  The hermeneutic device that is being employed is “כפל לשון” (redundancy of language). The verse could have simply stated “תשלח”; the fact that the verb is doubled leads those who take every word of the Tora seriously² to derive an additional case from the extra word, in this instance that the principle of sending the mother bird away would even apply within the context of Mitzva—e.g., the birds are required for preparing food for a dangerously ill individual.

2. 

דברים פרק כב

(א) לֹא־תִרְאֶה אֶת־שׁוֹר אָחִיךָ אוֹ אֶת־שֵׂיוֹ נִדָּחִים וְהִתְעַלַּמְתָּ מֵהֶם הָשֵׁב תְּשִׁיבֵם לְאָחִיךָ:

תלמוד בבלי מסכת בבא מציעא דף ל עמוד ב

משנה. אי זו היא אבידה? מצא חמור או פרה רועין בדרך - אין זו אבידה, חמור וכליו הפוכין, פרה רצה בין הכרמים - הרי זו אבידה.

החזירה וברחה, החזירה וברחה, אפילו ארבעה וחמישה פעמים - חייב להחזירה, שנאמר השב תשיבם...

3.  Sacrifices that involve fowl usually require the birds to be of a certain age—

"...התור המצוי הוכשר לקרבן רק כאשר נחשב לגדול, היינו רק כעבור כשבועיים לאחר הבקיעה, כאשר הגוזלים עוטים את הנוצות הקבועות שעל גופם ומסוגלים לנטוש את הקן. הצבע הכללי של אברות התור הבוגר הוא חום ערמוני (מנומר בכתמים כהים) וזה מתאים לתיאור שמביא רש"י: "משיזהיבו (התורים) - שיהא כנפי גופן גדולים ואדומים ומזהיבים כזהב". (חולין כב:)

http://www.elhamikdash.com/site/detail/detail/detailDetail.asp?detail_id=636507

If they had to be minimally of an age when they would be ready to leave the nest, chances are they would not be found in the nest and therefore the Mitzva of sending away the mother would not pertain to them.

Re the purification of the Metzora,

ויקרא פרק יד

(ב) זֹאת תִּהְיֶה תּוֹרַת הַמְּצֹרָע בְּיוֹם טָהֳרָתוֹ וְהוּבָא אֶל־הַכֹּהֵן:

(ג) וְיָצָא הַכֹּהֵן אֶל־מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה וְרָאָה הַכֹּהֵן וְהִנֵּה נִרְפָּא נֶגַע־הַצָּרַעַת מִן־הַצָּרוּעַ:

(ד) וְצִוָּה הַכֹּהֵן וְלָקַח לַמִּטַּהֵר שְׁתֵּי־צִפֳּרִים חַיּוֹת טְהֹרוֹת וְעֵץ אֶרֶז וּשְׁנִי תוֹלַעַת וְאֵזֹב:

(ה) וְצִוָּה הַכֹּהֵן וְשָׁחַט אֶת־הַצִּפּוֹר הָאֶחָת אֶל־כְּלִי־חֶרֶשׂ עַל־מַיִם חַיִּים:

(ו) אֶת־הַצִּפֹּר הַחַיָּה יִקַּח אֹתָהּ וְאֶת־עֵץ הָאֶרֶז וְאֶת־שְׁנִי הַתּוֹלַעַת וְאֶת־הָאֵזֹב וְטָבַל אוֹתָם וְאֵת הַצִּפֹּר הַחַיָּה בְּדַם הַצִּפֹּר הַשְּׁחֻטָה עַל הַמַּיִם הַחַיִּים:

(ז) וְהִזָּה עַל הַמִּטַּהֵר מִן־הַצָּרַעַת שֶׁבַע פְּעָמִים וְטִהֲרוֹ וְשִׁלַּח אֶת־הַצִּפֹּר הַחַיָּה עַל־פְּנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה:

the birds are not treated as sacrifices even as they are part of the purification process. Therefore the rules and standards might be different, less restrictive than those that apply to an actual sacrifice, where the animal would have to be older.

תורה תמימה הערות דברים פרק כב הערה סג

^סג) מפרש בגמרא לדבר מצוה כגון לטהר בה את המצורע. ומה דנקט מצורע ולא סתם קרבנות הבאות מעופות, הוא לרבותא משום דבשארי קרבנות נקרב העוף וא"כ יבטל ע"י זה מצות שילוח, ולפי"ז בודאי ישסברא לאסור לבטל העשה בידים אף כי משום מצוה, משא"כ למצורע כנודע שלאחר שמקיימין בה מצותה שולחין אותה לנפשה כמבואר בפ' מצורע, וא"כ הו"א כיון דאפשר לקיים בה גם מצות שילוח מותרלקחתה לתכלית זו קמ"ל:

Tora Temima’s explanation:

The Chidush of the case of purifying the Metzora , as opposed to other sacrifices, is because with respect to other sacrifices, the bird is offered up on the altar, and therefore the Commandment of sending the mother bird away could not be fulfilled. Consequently, if in order to offer a sacrifice, one would have to actively ignore a positive Commandment—i.e., sending away the mother bird—this would be improper. However in the case of the Metzora, one of the birds is allowed to fly away, and one might think that this is a means by which sending the mother bird away so that it can live would be fulfilled. So perhaps it would then be permitted to take the mother bird for such a purpose? קמ"ל that this would not be permitted.

(I focused upon the baby birds; Tora Temima focusses upon the mother bird.)

¹ A major objection to classical Shechita is that this is not truly humane, since stunning the animal insensate would be more humane.

“Ritual slaughter officially ceased in Poland in January, following a 2012 decision by Poland’s constitutional court that exempting religious Muslims and Jews from a law requiring that animals be stunned before slaughter was ‘unconstitutional’.”

—“Jews in Poland Continue Ritual Slaugher Despite Ban” by Nissan Tzur, Sam Sokol, Jerusalem Post 7/18/13.

² As opposed to the approach that would maintain “דברה תורה בלשון בני אדם” (the Tora speaks in the language of people), and since people sometimes just as a colloquialism or for emphasis might repeat words, so too the Tora does so.