Ki Tetze 5774 - English

By Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky
B´nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica

What can we achieve by fulfilling the mitzvot?

Among all the mitzvot that appear in this week’s parashah, there is one in particular that draws my attention and which I would like to discuss.  It is the commandment of Shiloach ha’Ken, which we could translate as “freeing the nest”.

It is written in the Torah:  “If, along the road, you chance upon a bird's nest, in any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or eggs and the mother sitting over the fledglings or on the eggs, do not take the mother together with her young.  Let the mother go, and take only the young, in order that you may fare well and have a long life.” (Deut. 22:6-7)

In other words, there’s a specific prohibition against taking both the bird and its offspring, whereas it is allowed when only offspring are taken.  Many commentators believe that the meaning of this law is to prevent the animal´s extreme suffering, since it immediately perceives what the fate of its chicks will be.  If this was so, this mitzvah would be framed under the concept of tzaar baalei chaim, to avoid animal suffering.

However, some questions arise: Does God really care if a bird is taken out of its nest along with its chicks?  Can there be a strong theological reason for God to order people to keep this commandment?  How can we explain the divine interest in such a seemingly unimportant issue?

Nachmanides, also known by his acronym Ramban, answered these questions with the general principle that says that the mitzvot were given to educate humankind.  When people worry about the order in which they disrupt a nest, when they first free the mother to then take its fledglings, what they are doing is developing human sensitivity, its empathy with the suffering of others.  According to Ramban, this is the true meaning of this and all the other mitzvot.  In truth, God could not care less when a man stands before a nest and reflects before acting, but that man is indeed affected, for he becomes sensitive to the animal’s suffering, thus shaping his human qualities!

The same can be said about all the precepts found in the Torah, even when it is difficult for us to see it, probably influenced by our own prejudices regarding our tradition. According to Nachmanides, the mitzvot constitute an educational system, designed to modify the human spirit. 

When people keep the commandments in a conscious and deep manner, they are educating themselves to live a different life, a life of midot tovot, a life of virtues.  Religious precepts guide us to be honest, sensible, generous, and humble.  Rephrasing the Talmud, the mitzvot were given to make men and women more pure.

In Ramban’s opinion, the influence exerted on God by a person’s sensitivity before a bird is null; however, the action produced in that same man is huge.  When our children are raised in a system of values that force them to respect and love their fellow men and women, to help the needy, to put limits to their food and drink, to devote one day per week to the soul, to be sensitive to the world around them and show solidarity with others, they grow up as respectable men and women, capable of giving love disinterestedly and of feeling revulsion for bad impulses.  In order to reach that objective, it is necessary to educate children covering each act of daily life. And the same applies to us adults, who also need to continue educating ourselves every day, so as to shape our spirit and develop our most sublime virtues.

This is, according to Ramban, the purpose of the commandments.  I’m sure that many of us can identify with this manner of seeing the mitzvot, even if it is sometimes difficult to understand it in daily practice, confused by the complex details sometimes found in the halacha, the Jewish law.

May God bless us with the ability to keep the commandments, so that we and our children may become more sensitive, more honest, and more generous.  Our bodies and souls yearn for these virtues, which help us live happier lives, with more inner peace.

Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky
B´nei Israel Congregation, Costa Rica