Prolonging Days

If a bird’s nest chances to be before you in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young one’s or on the eggs, and the mother sitting upon the young or the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall let the mother go free, but you may take the young for yourself; that it be good for you and that you may prolong your days.                                       Deuteronomy 22:6-7 “That you may prolong your days” in the world which is entirely long (the world to come).                   Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin 39b

          Netziv notes that the only other mitzva for which the Torah promises "prolonging days" is honoring one’s father and mother [Deuteronomy 5:16, repetition of the Decalogue], where the order is reversed:

Honor your father and mother, as God has commanded you, that you may prolong your days and that it be good for you on the Land which God your Lord has given you.

          Netziv explains that the phrase “that it be good for you” refers to this world, while “that you may prolong your days” refers, as our Sages taught, to the world to come. Thus, the verses speak of two levels of reward: a physical, tangible one and a spiritual one.

          One may reasonably assume that honoring one’s parents brings rewards in this world, since the mitzva is logical and easily comprehended by human intellect, while the mitzva of sending away the mother before taking the young bird is a Divine decree, and therefore should be rewarded only in the spiritual realm. To prevent our accepting this misconception, the Torah mentions both types of reward in connection with each of the mitzvot. Whether a mitzva is in the realm of interpersonal relations (bein adam l’havero) or between man and his Creator (bein adam laMakom), it carries rewards both in this world and in the world to come.

          Further, Netziv notes that the verse from the repetition of the Ten Commandments states “that it be good for you on the Land which God your Lord has given you,” despite the fact that the mitzva of honoring one’s parents is not dependent upon the Land of Israel, but applies universally, teaching that the essential fulfillment of Torah and mitzvot is within the Land. For this reason, Torah is referred to as “Torah of the Lord of the Land.”

          Concerning the mitzva of honoring one’s parents, which we would assume to be applicable in all lands, the Torah stresses ” the Land which God your Lord has given you,” teaching that even with such a logical mitzva, the essential observance is within the Land.

          Conversely, concerning the mitzva of sending away the mother, which is a Divine decree, and therefore could be assumed to apply only in God’s Land, the Torah teaches “that it be good for you”, in whatever land you happen to be.