Food for Thought: Generosity and the Stork (Shemini 5775)

We all know food is an essential element of Pesach. But why is it that as soon as Passover is done food is also prominent? Many crave a return to pizza or other foods traditionally off-limits during Pesach. At the smallest of Israeli pizza shops, i have heard the phone ring off the hook an hour or two after Pesach ends. (I have a special fondness for pizza with corn and green olives because of Pizza Sababa in Jerusalem).  

The power of food both during and after Pesach illustrates that food is about much more than physical nutrition it also is about emotional nourishment.  

That theme echoes in this week's Torah portion, Shemini, which contains detailed descriptions of the types of food that are fit or kosher and those that aren't. Only certain animals are eligible to be kosher. There are rules as to what makes an animal or a fish kosher. Fish, for example, must have both fins and scales. 

But when it comes to birds -- the Torah does not describe general rules. Rather Torah specifically describes each specific bird – by name – that is disqualified.

One explanation for treating birds differently is that the disqualifying characteristics for most animals and fish are visible to us. One can readily tell, for instance, if a fish has fins and scales (at least if one actively fishes).

But for birds it's different. 

The disqualifying characteristic for birds is behavioral. The behavioral characteristic that is most troublesome is cruelty. Ironically, one of the unfit birds that fits this description carries a name that seems the opposite of cruel. The chasidah (the stork) carries a name derived in Hebrew from the term chesed (lovingkindness).  

The rabbis imagine this name was given to the stork because it feeds the young of its species (Chullin 63a). Then how can it be considered cruel?  Because it feeds only the young of its species! (Still others see even more cruel characteristics in the stork rendering it not-kosher because the stork is a predator, eating other birds and reptiles.) In other words, for birds the ideal type of generosity -- capacity to provide nourishment -- has to go beyond one's own nest or species.  

If it is true with birds, how much the more so for us. Some of us are like the stork – generously sharing only within our family. But there others who need our help too. When we limit our generosity exclusively to those closest to us, we, like the stork run the risk of seeming cruel. More than that, peace in the world depends on our ability to nourish with generosity beyond our family and, even, beyond our community. (See Gittin 61a:  "Our Rabbis taught: We provide for the non-Jewish poor with the Jewish poor the sake of peace.") 

May the lesson of the stork remind us of our power to bring peace to the world by extending our generosity toward others beyond our family and friends.