A Mitzvah that Extends your Life

There are only two mitzvot mentioned in the Torah that will result in an individual's attainment of a long life. Can you think of what they might be?

The first mitzvah is mentioned in the ten commandments. The fifth commandment states, "Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your G-d has commanded you, that you may long endure, and that you may fare well in the Land that the Lord your G-d is giving you. The second mitzvah is mentioned in this week's parasha, Ki Tetze. "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 is 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. "

Is there a connection between these two verses? If so, what do you think the relationship might be?

Some commentators who looked at the second passage suggested that it's purpose is to develop a sense of compassion within us. Does that seem like a good explanation and if so, why? How does sending a mother bird away develop our compassion if we then take her young after she leaves the nest? If you were going to rewrite this mitzvah for the purpose of developing our sense of compassion for all life, how would you rewrite it?



Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explained that the focus on the mother and not the babies was for a different reason. "If she is occupied with her maternal functions, she is protected from harm and must be let free." In other words, the focus of the mitzvah is on the role of the mother bird not on her feelings towards her young. The mitzvah emphasizes the value of the role of motherhood. The mother bird has produced life and is sustaining life as she is sitting over her fledglings in the nest. She makes sure that her young will be able to sustain themselves after they leave her nest. Therefore, she is to be let go so she can fulfill her role even if it is with another nest of fledglings.


The Midrash Rabbah Ruth deals directly with the passage about sparing the mother bird in the nest. It tells the story of Elisha Ben Abuya, a Jewish anti-hero during the period of Rabbi Akiva. He lost faith in G-d as a result of two instances dealing with a mother bird. "He was once sitting and studying in the plain of Gennesaret and he saw a man who ascended to the top of a date-palm and took the dam with the young, and descended safely. At the conclusion of the Sabbath, he saw another man who ascended the tree and took the young, but let the dam go, and when he descended a snake stung him and he died. Whereupon he said: It is written, "thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, but the young thou mayest take unto thyself, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days." Abuya thought "Where is the goodness and where the length of days for this man?" Abuya was unaware that Rabbi Akiva had publicly expounded "That it may be well with thee" in the world which is entirely good, "And that thou mayest prolong thy days" in the world of eternity. Unlike Akiva who could believe that the reward of a long life would be forthcoming in the world to come, if not in this world, if this mitzvah were to be fulfilled, Abuyah took the words of Torah literally and could not see G-d's rewards as this commandment promised.

How do we understand the promised reward of a long life? Do we discount it entirely? Do we see it from the eyes of Rabbi Akiva or from the eyes of Abuyah? Do we need a promise of a reward in order to fulfill a mitzvah? Is it possible to find satisfaction in the idea that the reward for a mitzvah is another mitzvah?

From two lines of Torah, we are left with many questions to ponder...questions about why we must consider the mother bird rather than her young, questions about the relationship of the two passages in Torah that promise us long life, and questions about how we interpret the promised reward for observing a simple mitzvah. Torah teaches us much but also leads us to ask more questions so we can pursue further learning.

Shabbat Shalom.