When Yaakov heard that Eisav was approaching with a small army, and with obvious intentions, he prayed to Hashem for salvation, concluding with the words, “lest he come and smite me, mother upon children” (Bereishis 32:12). Yaakov appealed to Hashem’s mercy by mentioning the fact that he was not asking solely on his own behalf, as the lives of his four wives and eleven young children were also at stake. To the sensitive ears of the Sages, though, Yaakov’s words, “mother upon children,” intimated a deeper message: “You said [in Your Torah] not to take the mother bird while it is upon its young!” (Bereishis Rabbah 76:6). Yaakov was alluding to the fact that Hashem Himself had commanded us in His Torah to send away a nesting bird and not to take it along with its young, and he pleaded that Hashem should have similar mercy upon him for the sake of his “nesting” wives. From the fact that the Torah records these words, we may infer that they successfully aroused Hashem’s mercy and brought salvation to the fledgling Jewish nation.

It appears from the above Midrash that we are commanded to send away the mother bird out of compassion. Midrash Tanchuma (Parashas Emor §13) similarly implies that Hashem commanded this Mitzvah out of His mercy over living beings. The compassion is twofold: firstly, not to cause the mother bird to suffer by taking away its young before its eyes, and secondly, not to destroy the family completely. By sending away the mother bird, it can produce more children and the family can continue. Correspondingly, the Torah promises a twofold reward: that “Hashem will be good to you,” as you were good to the mother bird, and that “you will live a long life,” that is, eternal life in the World to Come, for having granted continuity to that family of birds (Ibn Ezra to Devarim 22:7).

Elsewhere, the Sages seem to understand quite differently. The Gemara of Tractate Megillah (33b) cites from the Mishnah that if a chazan prays to Hashem, “You Who had mercy on the mother bird should have mercy upon us,” he must be silenced. One explanation the Gemara offers is that such a prayer implies that Hashem commanded so out of mercy, when in truth, all of His Mitzvos are decrees. It is therefore difficult to understand how Yaakov prayed in this very manner.

The Commentators address this apparent contradiction in various ways (see Chavrusa to Chullin 138b). We will cite a selection of their words, and then return to Yaakov’s prayer. Maharal (Tiferes Yisrael ch. 6) explains that even though the Mitzvos are for our benefit, as the Torah emphasizes in numerous places, they are essentially “decrees” of the King that our human minds can never fully understand, and which we must fulfill whether we like it or not. The fact that we also benefit from the Mitzvos does not change their definition as “decrees." It is therefore improper to pray to Hashem to have mercy because of the mercy He displays in commanding us to send away the mother bird.

We gain further insight into the nature of this “decree” when we note its seemingly contradictory esoteric perspective. The Kabbalists teach that sending away the mother bird also includes an element of cruelty, for the mother bird will soon return and find its nest desolate. Hashem specifically commands us to send it away in this manner to arouse parallel Divine compassion over the entire world (see Rabbeinu Bechaye; see also Tikkunei Zohar 23a and Rashi to Yonah 3:8). In fact, the Vilna Gaon (Mishlei 30:17 and Imrei Noam to Berachos 33b) goes so far as to say that this Mitzvah is primarily an act of cruelty designed to train us into doing Hashem's will even when it runs contrary to our natural feelings of compassion, for a true servant of Hashem does not fulfill His will only when it coincides with his own. According to this view, this Mitzvah is fulfilled as a “decree” in the fullest sense of the word, for it goes against our nature.

The Vilna Gaon illustrates his point by noting that Avraham's final test was to slaughter his son. Until then, one might think that all his acts of kindness and compassion were only his human nature and that he was not truly a G-d-fearing person. The inborn compassion of all human beings, which is shared even by animals to some extent, is not always virtuous and sometimes even results in severe cruelty. For example, if a person is compassionate to criminals and does not exact justice upon them, he has actually been cruel — to all their future victims who will suffer the consequences of his “compassion”! The Sages comment to this effect about King Shaul’s compassion on Amalek (Koheles Rabbah 7:16). Avraham’s wholehearted willingness to perform the greatest act of cruelty on the greatest focus of his compassion — his one and only son — proved that his compassion was a reflection of Hashem’s finely balanced and truly virtuous compassion. He and his descendants were thus chosen to represent Hashem’s will in this world.

In truth, there is no contradiction between the view that sending away the mother bird is an act of compassion and the view that it is an act of cruelty. Hashem’s Mitzvos are expressions of His infinite Divine wisdom, and hence, the moral lessons that can and must be gleaned from them are likewise infinitely numerous and faceted. If we send away the mother bird only as an act of compassion, it would indeed be contradictory to intend for its suffering as well. However, since we have compassion on it only because Hashem has commanded so, it is surely not contradictory to intend for its suffering because Hashem commanded so. Even this element of cruelty is ultimately compassion, for it serves to bring Divine compassion to the world.

Before concluding this point, it should be noted that there is a view that this Mitzvah primarily refers to when one intends to consume the eggs or young, in which case causing the mother bird suffering is similar to the permitted act of slaughtering an animal for consumption, despite the element of cruelty involved. To send away the mother bird without cause, however, would not be appropriate according to this view (see Chasam Sofer, Orach Chaim §100).

We return to Yaakov’s prayer. While the Gemara indicates that it is improper for a chazan to appeal to the Divine mercy that Hashem displays in this Mitzvah, we may suggest that this is only so in public, where an unlearned congregant might mistakenly infer from such a prayer that the Mitzvos are no more than insights into how to act morally and that Hashem is subject to human emotions. Yaakov, on the other hand, merely alluded to this idea, leaving no room for the unlearned to err as to his intent. Having shown mercy to his family by raising them under difficult conditions for many years, he turned to Hashem and appealed to this aspect of His Divine compassion, whose light shines eternally through the small crack of this seemingly insignificant Mitzvah: You, Who said not to take the mother bird along with its young, please also have mercy upon these mothers and their children.