Is the Torah concerned with compassionate treatment of animals? The command to send away a mother bird before taking her eggs or chicks is one of four animal family laws that highlight the bonds between animals and their offspring. But these laws are not about preventing emotional pain for the animals—they ask us to recognize their familial bonds, even when humans ultimately override them.
Prof.
Beth A Berkowitz
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Using the martial idiom “taking a mother on her young,” Deuteronomy forbids taking eggs and chicks without first shooing the mother bird. Is the concern cruelty to animals?
Dr.
Tzvi Novick
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