In reading through the list of non-kosher birds and animals we find that many, if not all of them, have characteristics that we do not want to absorb in ourselves. We don’t eat any carnivores or vicious birds. We don’t eat lions of tigers or vultures or even storks.

One bird that should give us pause is the Cuckoo bird. Although it isn’t clear which word in the parsha refers to the Cuckoo, the Tosfos in Chullin is very clear that Cuckoo birds are not kosher and have no business finding their way into our bloodstreams.

What’s wrong with the Cuckoo? It seems that many Cuckoos engage in a practice known as brood parasitism or cuckoldry. This is a fancy way of saying that they go into the nests of other birds, kick their birds out and lay their own eggs. Perhaps it is this achazarius, this cruelty, that doesn’t allow them into our cholent.

Recently, many scientists have come out in defense of the Cuckoo. Apparently, he does protect the nest and the eggs that are left behind. Studies show that nests invaded by Cuckoos are safer for the eggs than nests that are not invaded by cuckoos. Nevertheless, it seems that the very act of cuckolding and not building their own nests – or moving into a clock – is considered cruel.

In the Haftorah for Shemini we find that King David wanted to build the Beis Hamikdash (Temple). We mourn every day that the Beis Hamikdash has been destroyed. Yet, when G-d heard Dovid’s request He said, “I never asked for a Bais Hamikdash. We are doing just fine in a Mishkan. We’ve done well in the desert and in Shiloh and in Yerushalayim. There is no reason to build a building with a roof.

The Gemara tells us that this was because Dovid Hamelech had conquered the land – as he was commanded to – with bloodshed and war. He wouldn’t be able to build a Beis Hamikdash on that backdrop. The Bais Hamikdash was built with Shalom and not even a metal tool was used on the building site. This is the idea of the verse “Mikdash Hashem Konenenu Yadecha” – “G-d was ‘Konein’ a Tample”. A Kein is a nest and it refers here to the Temple which needs to be a properly built structure from its very foundation. We need to do everything we can to build our homes and our commnuities, but it needs to be on a backdrop and foundation of Shalom.

Click on the link below for a collection of thoughts on the first Chapter of Pirkei Avos

  Kol Hator on Avos – Chapter One