Shiluach haken is the Jewish law derived from the Torah that enjoins one to scare away the mother bird before taking her young or her eggs. This only applies to Kosherbirds in the wild. The Torah promises longevity to someone who performs this commandment.
Theological ramifications
Compassion or cruelty?
RabbiNatan Slifkin has described two different approaches which Jewish thinkers have historically taken to this commandment. According to the "rationalist" approach, the purpose of the commandment is compassion: either to spare the mother bird the distress of seeing its eggs taken, or to limit the greed inherent in killing animals for one's use, or a similar reason. Whereas the "mystical" approach sees the commandment as act of cruelty to the bird rather than compassion: in fact, the bird's suffering causes God to consider Israel's suffering at the hands of its enemies, and thus leads God to rescue Israel. This dispute has practical ramifications, as the "rationalist" approach rules the commandment can only be done when one plans to eat the eggs, while the "mystical" approach calls on Jews to shoo away any mother bird even if they do not plan to take the eggs.
Theodicy
As this is one of the few individual commandments for which a specific reward is promised in the text, it became a in Talmudic literature for discussion of theodicy. One example of this is in which discusses the problem whether the reward for commandments is in this world or the next. The explanation given in Pirkei Avot, is that the reward may not translate in this world, but rather in Olam Habah, the next world. In addition, the Talmud famously records that Elisha ben Abuyah saw a childfall off the ladder while performing this commandment. This irreconcilable lack of theodicy led him away from Judaism.
The metaphor of Shiluach haken is used in David Vollach's 2007 movieMy Father My Lord, where the main character, Avraham, shoos away a mother bird just before the death of his son Menachem after the mother was "sent away" from the boy.
