By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin
PIKESVILLE, Maryland — Both the command to be sensitive to a mother bird in the sixth of the eleven weekly biblical portions, Ki Tetzei, in Deuteronomy 22:6-7, and the command to honor parents in the Decalogue in Deuteronomy 5:16 and Exodus 20:12 promise a prolonged life. Why do these acts merit a long life? What is the connection between the two? Professor Halivni provides a compelling reason, but I prefer the explanation offered by Abraham ibn Ezra (1092-1167) about it.
Deuteronomy 22:6-7 states that if you chance upon a bird’s nest containing young ones or eggs with the mother sitting near the chicks or on the eggs, you must not take the mother with the young. Instead, consider the mother’s feelings. Let the mother go and then take the young, “that you may prolong your days.” The Decalogue requires us to honor our parents “so that your years may be prolonged.”
Rashi’s grandson, Rashbam (1085-1158), a very open-minded rational Bible commentator who scrutinized the Torah and discovered gems, noticed that the two commands were very different. The bird rule speaks about a chance encounter and is easy to perform; all one needs to do is shoo away the mother bird. In contrast, honoring parents often involves daily activities and can be a challenging task. He asked why length of days would be granted for an act that is so simple as shooing away a mother bird.
Professor Halivni suggests that we should not focus on difficulty but on “the feeling of goodness in our days that makes them worthwhile.” These behaviors bring awareness of God into the simplest as well as the most complicated deeds. “Such a life, no matter how mathematically brief, will be full of days that are both long and good.”
In essence, Professor Halivni sees a spiritual or emotional benefit in both practices and understands the idea of prolonging life as a feeling that one is living a good life, rather than actually living longer.
His explanation is reasonable, but I prefer Abraham ibn Ezra’s more practical interpretation. He understood the Decalogue law literally, believing that honoring one’s parents could extend one’s life. When children observe how their parents treat their fathers and mothers, they learn from their parents’ example how to treat their own parents. As a result, the youngsters will treat their moms and dads well, and the good treatment will prolong their lives.
While Ibn Ezra did not address the same issue concerning how people treat animals, it is reasonable to understand that children, observing how their parents interact with animals, considering their feelings, will likely treat their parents with warm consideration. As a result, the parents’ lives will be better and longer.
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Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin is a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps. He is the author of more than 50 books.