שלח תשלח את האם ואת הבנים תקח לך למען ייטב לך והארכת ימים
“You shall send away the mother, and [then] you may take the young for yourself, in order that it should be good for you, and you should lengthen your days” (Devorim 22:7)
This week’s parsha contains the mitzvah of shiluach hakan – sending away the mother bird from her nest before taking her eggs or young for oneself. The Torah uses a double expression – שלח תשלח – in conjunction with this mitzvah and promises arichas yomim [longevity] for one who does so.
In Parshas Re’eh (14:22), the Torah also employs a double expression in commanding us: עשר תעשר את כל תבואת זרעך – “you shall surely tithe the entire crop of your planting”. The Gemara (Ta’anis 9a) homiletically derives the s’char [reward] for this mitzvah based on the similarity between the Hebrew letters “shin” and “sin,” interpreting the words עשר תעשר as עשר בשביל שתתעשר – “tithe, and you will become wealthy”.
As a brilliant allusion and mnemonic device to remember the s’char for these two mitzvos, the Chasam Sofer (Chadash) suggests a novel reading of the pasuk in Mishlei (3:16) ארך ימים בימינה בשמאולה עשר וכבוד. Literally, it means, “In its right is length of days; riches and honor are in the left,” but since Shlomah did not explicitly specify which right and left he was discussing, the Chasam Sofer posits that it can be interpreted as a reference to the dot above the letter ש.
When the dot is on the right side, it becomes the “shin” used in the double expression שלח תשלח, which the Torah says is rewarded with arichas yomim, and when the dot is on the left side, it is the “sin” that appears in the mitzvah עשר תעשר, for which Chazal say we will be blessed with wealth and honor. (R’ Ozer Alport)
