Bird nest on my windowsill. Shluach hakan?

suremom

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 4:39 pm

but if you pick it up you need to make a kinyan. just picking up and putting it back down doesnt do. we dont know the reason for this mitzvah but one rewards is having bunim. I have 2 family members who didnt have kids for a few years. one did it and had a boy 91/2 months later. the other gave birth exactly a year (to the day!) she did it. I myself did it as a girl, got engaged, and my mikvah night (I became preg that cycle) also came out exactly a year later. (to the day again!)
we dont know the reason but its a tremendous zechus.

MrsDash

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 4:42 pm

suremom wrote:

That's so interesting! I one time sneezed on a birds nest and 5 years later gave birth.

suremom

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 5:02 pm

MrsDash wrote:

That's so interesting! I one time sneezed on a birds nest and 5 years later gave birth.

and the correlation between the two is what?

amother

Emerald

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 5:03 pm

MrsDash wrote:

That's so interesting! I one time sneezed on a birds nest and 5 years later gave birth.

gp2.0

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 5:06 pm

suremom wrote:

and the correlation between the two is what?

Exactly.

suremom

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 5:08 pm

gp2.0 wrote:

Exactly.

I fail to see whats so funny about it. its clearly written that one who does this mitzvah will be rewarded with kids and its amazing how we saw it so clearly.

gp2.0

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 5:12 pm

It's basic confirmation bias. You notice all the people who performed shluach hakan and had babies, but you don't notice all the people who performed shluach hakan and didn't have babies.

suremom

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 5:17 pm

but that doesnt take away the 'amazingness' of it. U hear multiple stories where chemo was succesful and many that were not. We still think its an amazing drug. Now pls dont start picking at my analogy I just couldnt think of a better one at the moment

amother

Coral

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 8:50 pm

A couple of things...

It is supposed to be hefker/on public property for the mitzvah to be fulfilled, but depending where exactly it is, you may be able to declare it hefker. Speak to a rav.

As for confirmation bias? I think it's more like "we don't know why Hashem does things, or when He does them, but we should do our hishtadlus." I'm of the opinion that segulos like this certainly don't hurt and could be the shliach by which the yeshua comes - there's just no way to know whether it was shiluach haken, or all the davening one does for oneself, or that other people do, or kvatter, or...who knows. But here's our story:

My DH did this mitzvah by accident once. His workplace was expanding/renovating and had bought the abandoned building next door, so he was trying to work in a construction zone basically. Late one night, he walked into the new/abandoned building and saw a bird flying away - his entrance had apparently scared it away. It occurred to him to wonder if there was a nest, and, yes, he had just scared the mother away from her nest by accident. Because this particular part of the building was as I said a construction site, he had the choice to leave two baby birds to certain painful death by bulldozing, or to pick them up and literally take them home. He brought them to me and went back to work.

Then he heard another bird. His first thought was, of course, "Oh NO" Smile

but this time with the kavana for the mitzvah, he scared away that mother bird, took the baby from its nest, and brought it to me too. Not four hours later, that entire section or room or whatever (I don't know the layout, I wasn't there) was completely bulldozed to the ground and the babies would not have survived. They weren't going to survive under my care either, but within about a day and a half, I was able to get them to a vet who took them and is raising them.

Now here's the really wild part. My husband had done that mitzvah just shy of our fourth anniversary. We'd been waiting for children, going through treatments, and were told by several different world-renowned doctors that there was simply nothing they could do for us until medical technology improved. Nobody could offer us any hope whatsoever.

Our baby is due any day now, just about eleven months after my husband fulfilled shiluach haken.

amother

Seafoam

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 8:58 pm

amother wrote:

Refuah shleimah

the world's best mom

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 9:39 pm

MrsDash wrote:

FYI, birds are not goldfish. They will fight for their babies and home. It's quite cruel to do this to a perfectly innocent animal, who like us, is just trying to survive in this world and care for their family.

There are no Mitzvos in the Torah that are cruel. Sorry.

I would say to do your research well so that you will do the Mitzvah properly if it is applicable.

And yes, the Torah promises us tremendous rewards for this Mitzvah. It is not a myth.

amother

Mint

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 10:01 pm

gp2.0 wrote:

Whew. I didn't know you could just pick up the egg and put it back down, that is a MUCH BETTER version of the mitzva than the one I've seen performed, and the little space in my brain that's been worrying about this can finally relax.

Whew. Same.

I love animals and get quite distressed to see them in pain. This mitzvah was agonizingly difficult for me to comprehend - yes, I know we don't need to comprehend the mitzvos, but it still really bothered me and seemed like real tzaar baal hachaim.

amother

Mint

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 11:25 pm

amother wrote:

Refuah shleimah

Nah, that amother was just disgusted that someone would spread harmful germs to beautiful little birds so as to have a baby five years later. I was DLKZ that Mrs. Dash did it accidentally... LOL

shoshana2

Thu, Mar 17 2016, 11:47 pm

I heard a beautiful meaning behind shiluach hakaan - when the mother bird cries that her babies are taken Hashem sends his rachmanus down to this world.
That being said its also a chok and we do it because Hashem said so.
I have had the zechus to do shiluach hakaan, all one has to do is raise the eggs up in his hand and they can put them right back in the nest. Mommy bird will continue to watch over and take care of the babies.
Made me feel good to see that.

OOTBubby

Fri, Mar 18 2016, 10:05 am

If you plan to do it please make sure to check the various halachos as there are many details not everyone is aware of. I haven't read the whole thread here and I saw that someone mentioned the reshus harabim issue. Additionally, it must be a kosher bird. I believe it must be done during daytime hours. Please check so that at least if you do do it, you get it right.

shoshana2

Fri, Mar 18 2016, 10:11 am

I agree their are many details involved. Some bird species,like theDov,the mother bird only sits on the eggs at night. So it must be done at night. Other species are different.

HonesttoGod

Fri, Mar 18 2016, 11:05 am

OOTBubby wrote:

I don't know about the daytime because I know someone who did it at night. But like you said and I said before, definitely get a Rav's guidance.

As for the kids segulah, it is a big bracha that is for sure, I know a couple who don't have kids, did SH and didn't have kids afterwards. So its not fool proof but it is a bracha either way we don't always know how Hashem is bestowing His brachas on us though.