(ו) כִּי יִקָּרֵא קַן צִפּוֹר לְפָנֶיךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּכָל עֵץ אוֹ עַל הָאָרֶץ אֶפְרֹחִים אוֹ בֵיצִים וְהָאֵם רֹבֶצֶת עַל הָאֶפְרֹחִים אוֹ עַל הַבֵּיצִים לֹא תִקַּח הָאֵם עַל הַבָּנִים.
(6) If a bird’s nest is before you on your way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother is sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young.
1. Why do you think it is forbidden to take the young with the mother?
2. Look at the word, אֶפְרֹחִים what does the root mean? How does this relate to the text and the theme of tzar baalei chayyim?
From Maimonides Guide of the Perplexed (3, 48)
"People should be restrained and prevented from killing the two together in such a manner that the young is slain in the sight of the mother, for the pain of the animals under such circumstances is very great. There is no difference in this case between the pain of man and pain of other living beings, since the love and tenderness of the mother for her young ones is not produced by reasoning, but by imagination, and this faculty exists not only in man but in most living beings."
From Nachmanides on Deuteronomy (22:6)
"Scripture will not permit a destructive act that will cause the extinction of a species even though it has permitted the ritual slaughtering of that species. And he who kills mother and children in one day, or takes them while they are free to fly away, is considered as if he destroys the species."