## Sifrei Devarim Paragraph 228

###### Sifrei Devarim 228:1
[Sifrei Devarim 228:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/228:1)

(דברים כב ז) **שַׁלֵּחַ תְּשַׁלַּח** – מִצְוַת עֲשֵׂה. שִׁלְּחָהּ וְחָזְרָה, שִׁלְּחָהּ וְחָזְרָה, אֲפִלּוּ חָמֵשׁ פְּעָמִים – חַיָּב לְשַׁלֵּחַ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: **שַׁלֵּחַ תְּשַׁלַּח**.

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
(Devarim 22:7) "Send, shall you send away the mother-bird": This is a positive commandment. If he sent her away and she returned — even four or five times — he is obligated to continue sending her, it being written "Send shall you send." But if he sent her and she returned to his hand, he is exempt from sending her again.


###### Sifrei Devarim 228:2
[Sifrei Devarim 228:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/228:2)

הָאַוָּזִים וְתַרְנְגוֹלִים שֶׁמָּרְדוּ וְשֶׁקִּנְּנוּ בַּפַּרְדֵּס – חַיָּב לְשַׁלֵּחַ; בַּבַּיִת – פָּטוּר מִלְּשַׁלֵּחַ.

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
2. **Ducks or chickens that got loose**
**and nested in an orchard—**
**one is under obligation to send the dam away.**
**If the birds are nesting in the house—**
**he need not send the dam away.**


###### Sifrei Devarim 228:3
[Sifrei Devarim 228:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/228:3)

(דברים כב ו) **אֶפְרוֹחִים אוֹ בֵיצִים**, מָה אֶפְרוֹחִים שֶׁיֵּשׁ בָּם צוֹרֶךְ – יָצְאוּ מֵתִים שֶׁאֵין בָּהֶם צוֹרֶךְ, אַף בֵּיצִים שֶׁיֵּשׁ בָּהֶם צוֹרֶךְ – יָצְאוּ בֵּיצִים מוּזָרוֹת שֶׁאֵין בָּהֶם צוֹרֶךְ. מִעוּט אֶפְרוֹחִים שְׁנַיִם, מִעוּט בֵּיצִים שְׁנַיִם, וַאֲפִלּוּ אֵין שָׁם אֶלָּא בֵּיצָה אַחַת אוֹ אֶפְרוֹחַ אֶחָד – חַיָּב לְשַׁלֵּחַ. דָּבָר אַחֵר: **כִּי יִקָּרֵא קַן צִפּוֹר לְפָנֶיךָ** מִכָּל מָקוֹם.

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
**“The fledglings or the eggs” (Dt.22:6)—**
**fledglings are useful as food.**
**Therefore we exclude from the rule**
**dead fledglings, which are useless.**
**Similarly, eggs are useful as food.**
**Therefore we exclude from the rule**
**abnormal eggs, which are useless.**
**The minimum number intended**
**by the plural, *fledglings*, is two.**
**and the minimum of *eggs* is two.**¹⁰⁵ 227.2.
**Even if there is but one fledgling or one egg,**
**he is obliged to send off the dam.**
3. **Another word:**
**“If you happen across a bird’s nest” (Dt.22:6)—**
**any place.**

footnotes:
¹⁰⁵ Cf. Pisqa’


###### Sifrei Devarim 228:4
[Sifrei Devarim 228:4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/228:4)

**בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּכָל עֵץ אוֹ עַל הָאָרֶץ**, מַה דֶּרֶךְ רְשׁוּת – יָצְאוּ מְקֻשָּׁרִים שֶׁהֵן בִּרְשׁוּת אַחֵר.

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
**“*In the path*, in any tree, or upon the ground” (Dt.22:6)—**
**just as the term, *in the path*,**
**implies that the birds are free-ranging,**
**we exclude from the rule**
**birds that are tied together,**
**for they obviously have limited range.**


###### Sifrei Devarim 228:5
[Sifrei Devarim 228:5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/228:5)

דָּבָר אַחֵר: (דברים כב ז) **שַׁלֵּחַ תְּשַׁלַּח** בִּטְהוֹרָה הַכָּתוּב מְדַבֵּר; אוֹ אַף בִּטְמֵאָה? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: ״כָּל צִפּוֹר טְהוֹרָה תֹּאכֵלוּ״ זֶה בִּנְיַן אָב, כָּל מָקוֹם שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר **צִפּוֹר** – בִּטְהוֹרָה הַכָּתוּב מְדַבֵּר, כְּדִבְרֵי רַבִּי יֹאשִׁיָּה, הָא אִם שִׁלְּחָהּ וְהֶחְזִיר בַּדֶּרֶךְ אֶת פָּנָיו – פָּטוּר מִלְּשַׁלֵּחַ.

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
**Another word:**
**“You *must* definitely *send* away the *dam*” (Dt.22:7)—**
**the verse discusses a *clean* bird.**
**Or, [perhaps,] is it also**
**[discussing] an unclean bird?**
**The Teaching states:**
**“Every *clean* bird shall you eat” (Dt.14:11).**
**This permits us to recognize**
**a family resemblance among scriptural verses,**¹⁰⁶. A hermeneutical principle whereby usage of a word in a primary context clarifies secondary usages.
**Thus, wherever the term, “bird,” is used**
**[as in Dt.22:7, where “dam” appears],**
**the verse is referring to the *clean* bird**
**[indicated at Dt.14:11]—**
**as in the words of R. Josiah.**
**Indeed, if he sent her away and returned to his journey,**
**he is under no obligation to repeatedly send her away.**

footnotes:
¹⁰⁶ Heb: binyan ‘ av


###### Sifrei Devarim 228:6
[Sifrei Devarim 228:6](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/228:6)

**שַׁלֵּחַ תְּשַׁלַּח** – בַּנְּקֵבוֹת הַכָּתוּב מְדַבֵּר וְלֹא בַּזְּכָרִים.

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
"Send shall you send the *mother*-bird": Scripture speaks of (sending away) females and not males.


###### Sifrei Devarim 228:7
[Sifrei Devarim 228:7](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/228:7)

קוֹרֵא זָכָר – רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר מְחַיֵּב בְּשִׁלּוּחַ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: **שַׁלֵּחַ תְּשַׁלַּח**, וַחֲכָמִים פּוֹטְרִים, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: **הָאֵם** – פְּרָט לְקוֹרֵא זָכָר.

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
A male partridge (which is wont to hatch the eggs of other birds) — R. Eliezer says: It is subject to being sent away, it being written "Send shall you send." The sages say: It is exempt, it being written "the *mother*-bird" — to exclude the male partridge.


###### Sifrei Devarim 228:8
[Sifrei Devarim 228:8](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/228:8)

הַנּוֹטֵל אֵם מֵעַל הַבָּנִים, רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר: לוֹקֶה וְאֵינוֹ מְשַׁלֵּחַ, וַחֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים מְשַׁלֵּחַ וְאֵינוֹ לוֹקֶה וְכוּ׳ מַתְנִי׳ עַד מִצְווֹת חֲמוּרוֹת שֶׁבַּתּוֹרָה.

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
If one takes the mother-bird together with the young, (transgressing a negative commandment) — R. Yehudah says: He is lashed and does not send it away. The sages say: He sends it away and does not get lashes. This is the rule: All negative commandments annexed to positive commandments are not liable to stripes, (awaiting the fulfillment of the positive commandment). "You shall not take" — even to cleanse the leper. (*Ibid*. 7) "so that it shall be good for you and you prolong days": Now does this not follow *a fortiori*, viz.: If of a (monetarily) negligible mitzvah, (the expense involved in its performance) being no more than an *issar*, the Torah writes "so that it shall be good for you and you shall prolong days," how much more so is this true of the "formidable" mitzvoth of the Torah! (*Ibid*. 8).