Netvort Vayikra 5773:             The Empty Nest

By Rabbi Joshua (maturingly known and the Hoffer) Hoffman

            The Torah tells us that if a person brings a burnt sacrifice from a bird, he should bring it from a turtledove or a young dove (Vayikra 1:14). Why were these two birds the only ones chosen? The Ramban and Ralbag both say that these birds are more accessible than others, and were therefore chosen for the sake of convenience. The Rambam, in his Moreh HaNevuchim (3:46), says that these birds were chosen because of their superior quality.  Although the Ralbag also offers this reason, the Ramban rejects it, because, he says, young doves are almost inedible. Rather, if we are looking for a trait in the birds themselves that led to their choice, perhaps it is the sharp intellect of the turtledove, and the adeptness of the young dove to function before developing its limbs.

On another level, the Ramban says that mature turtledoves were chosen because of their trait of loyalty. They never change mates, and even after the death of one, they do not take another for the rest of their lives. Doves, however, are different. They have the trait of jealousy, or zealotry, which in itself may serve a good purpose, but, when it goes uncontrolled as the dove grows older, drives it to chase its mate from the nest and switch it for a new one. Therefore, only a young dove, rather than an older one, can be brought as a sacrifice, before the age that it takes a mate and its trait of jealousy gets out of control.

            Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky zt”l, in his Emes L’Ya’akov, points out that this distinction that the Ramban draws between the two birds confirms an idea presented in his commentary to Parshas VaYechi (Bereishis 49:7) in regard to the two tribes, Shimon and Levi.  Both of them exhibited the trait of zealotry in avenging the rape of their sister, Dinah, but historically Levi used that trait properly in regard to the eigel, killing its worshippers, while Shimon did not develop it properly, as witness their debauchery at the incident of Ba’al Pe’or, recorded at the end of Parshas Balak. The difference, according to Rav Yaakov zt”l, is that the tribe of Levi was exempt from servitude in Egypt, and spent their time studying Torah. They thereby learned how to guide their zealotry in a way that is compatible with and directed by the Torah, and only used it when it was absolutely necessary. The tribe of Shimon, however, did not apply a Torah standard to their use of its zealotry, and therefore stumbled in its use. Symbolically, the young dove represents the trait of zealotry before it has been tempered, while the older turtledove represents the more developed version of this trait. 

Rav Yaakov zt”l's distinction between the two stages of character development can help explain an otherwise difficult passage in the Talmud (Yoma 22b-23a), which says that any Torah scholar who does not take revenge and bear a grudge like a snake is not a Torah scholar. How can the Talmud present these traits in a seemingly positive way?  Rather, explains Rav Reuven Margoliyos, zt”l, in his Nitzotzei Ohr, the key element here is the comparison to a snake. The venom of a snake, says Rav Margoliyos, decreases in strength as the snake grows older. In a similar way, the Torah scholar, as he grows older, mellows and, following the example of Levi, learns how to guide his zealotry in the proper way.  Rav Margoliyos, zt”l, notes that this is also why the Talmud in Ta’anis (4a) says that one should not criticize a young Torah scholar for becoming enflamed, because it is the Torah within him that fires him up.  The emphasis here, he says, is the fact that it is a young Torah scholar, a tzurva merabanann, who is mentioned. As he matures, his zealotry emerges less frequently, as the Torah he studies gradually guides him in the proper way.  On a more homiletical note, I once heard an Israeli high school principal tell his students that in their service of God and the Jewish nation, they need to combine, in some way, the vigor of youth with the maturity of old age. That, then, is the message of the bird sacrifices.