The Cuckoo's Punishment

Dear friends, 

Amazingly in synch with the times, this Shabbat’s parashah deals with reward and punishment. Sixteenth century Rabbi Yaakov Ben Yitzhak Ashkenazi writes: 

The Holy One said: I have said that I properly pay each one according to their deeds, so how is it that an evildoer is very rich? Concerning this, the Holy One responds that the wealth of the evildoer, when he gathers wealth through theft or usury, it does not remain long. A bird called a partridge, sits on the eggs of other birds and incubates them. When the birds hatch from these eggs, they do not follow this bird, but they leave and follow their own. So too is the wealth of the evildoer. Similarly, when he has lots of money it will not remain with him for long. The wealth must depart during his lifetime and in the end he will be left a wretch. 

The rabbi was working on the following verse in this week’s Haftarah: 

קֹרֵ֤א דָגַר֙ וְלֹ֣א יָלָ֔ד עֹ֥שֶׂה עֹ֖שֶׁר וְלֹ֣א בְמִשְׁפָּ֑ט בַּחֲצִ֤י יָמָו֙ יַעַזְבֶ֔נּוּ וּבְאַחֲרִית֖וֹ יִהְיֶ֥ה נָבָֽל׃  

Like a partridge hatching what she did not lay  
So are those who amass wealth by unjust means; 
In mid-life it will leave them, 
And in the end they will be proved fools. 

In the 11th century, Rashi explained this bird bahavior a little bit differently: 

This cuckoo draws after it chicks that it did not lay. דָגָר (the second word in the verse)- This is the chirping which the bird chirps with its voice to draw the chicks after it, but those whom the cuckoo called will not follow it when they grow up for they are not of its kind. So is one who gathers riches but not by right. 

Steinsaltz, in the 20th century offered yet a different bird bahavior: 

A partridge, a small wild bird from the pheasant family, collects and tries to incubate eggs that it did not lay. When several of these birds share a nest, there is often a struggle between them, with each trying to expel the others and gather all of their eggs under its own wings. Since the partridge’s wings are fairly short, it cannot protect and properly incubate the stolen eggs, many of which are ultimately ruined or abandoned. This is a metaphor for a dishonest person, one who amasses wealth unjustly. Just as the partridge does not benefit from the eggs it stole from others, so too such an individual will not profit from his wealth. In the middle of his days he will leave it, and at his end he will be reviled, disgraced, and wretched, or, alternatively, he will be revealed and recognized as a wicked criminal. 

19th century Malbim had a different view, not of the bird's bahavior but of the thief’s punishment. While he may lose his money, he’ll never lose the terrible nature he adopted. 

באחרית ימיו יהיה עוד גרוע ממי שלא היה לו עושר כלל, שהגם שלא היה עשיר מימיו לא היה נבל אבל הוא ישאר נבל, כי ישאר בו הטבע לעשוק ולחמוס ולעשות נבלה 

In his old age he will be worse off than one who never had any wealth, since the one who was never rich was also never a scoundrel – but he will stay a scoundrel, because the instinct to oppress, be violent and spread corruption will never leave him. 

No matter how exactly this bird metaphor is supposed to work, and what a partridge actually does with the eggs or the chicks that it steals, eventually, says the prophet, truth will manifest, and even the king’s nakedness will be revealed. 

Shabbat shalom, 
Rabbi Misha