One of the mitzvot in this Torah portion is the mitzva of sending away a mother bird from the nest before taking its eggs or fledglings. In the statements of the Sages we find an approach that views this as a manifestation of God’s mercy on His creations, as were the mother to see its eggs or the fledglings taken, it would suffer pain. By contrast, there is an approach that discredits the idea of explaining the mitzvot of the Torah with such a rationale.

Just as in commanding certain mitzvot, the Holy One, blessed be He, extended His mercy to the animals, so He was filled with mercy on the birds. From where is that derived? It is derived from the verse, as it is stated: “If a bird’s nest will happen before you” (22:6).

With regard to one who recites: Just as Your mercy is extended to a bird’s nest, so too, extend Your mercy to us…he is silenced.

What is the reason? Two amora’im in the Land of Israel, Rabbi Yosei bar Avin and Rabbi Yosei bar Zevida, disagreed about this. One said it is because a person who recites this engenders jealousy among God’s creations. And one said it is because a person who recites this transforms the attributes and commandments of the Holy One, blessed be He, into mercy, when they are nothing but decrees. (Devarim Rabba 6; Berakhot 33b)