Parshat Ki Teitzei- Common Decency
by Rabbi Lobel

“If a bird's nest happens to be before you on the road, on any tree or on the ground, young birds or eggs, and the mother is roosting on the young birds or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother in front of the young. You shall surely send away the mother and take the young for yourself, so that it will be good for you and you will prolong your days. (Deuteronomy 22: 6-7)”

Nachamandies, quoting Maimonides (Moreh Nevuchim 3:48), states the reason one cannot take the young birds or eggs in front of the mother is because mothers, both human and animal, share the same instinctive feeling of worry when their children are taken away. Therefore, removing a mother’s young in front of her can lead an individual to savagery and barbarism.

As Rashi says, that such a simple act of kindness should merit the blessing “it will be good for you and you will prolong your days,” imagine the reward for difficult commandments.

Most of us will rarely have the opportunity to perform such a mitzvah, yet we still have much to learn from it - to treat G-d’s creatures with kindness, to never assume that small actions have small rewards, and to remember how much greater the rewards are for acts of kindness (chesed) to people. Nachamandies adds that by acting with kindness, even to animals, we become better people. We not only become more caring but also more appreciative of G-d’s benevolence.

Fear of Heaven doesn’t require lofty goals. Rather, one can start with simple decency and kindness; a worthy thought for the new year.