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Chizuk<br />
Since this verse discusses taking the children for oneself, performing<br />
this mitzvah is a known segulah for having children.<br />
SHAAREI TIKVAH/ CHANUKAH <strong>2009</strong><br />
about. There were times though, when our privacy had to<br />
be breached, like when we ran out of needles and syringes<br />
on Sunday and have to beg for some from the local <strong>Jewish</strong><br />
GP. Then there was the time when we forgot to assemble<br />
the syringe and needles before Shabbos and got stuck. We<br />
had to find a non-Jew to do this seemingly easy, but obscure<br />
job all the while wondering whether to laugh or to<br />
cry at such a bizarre situation.<br />
The trips to this clinic were new, although our journey<br />
was taking us along a well-trodden path. We had gotten<br />
used to embarrassing questions from all the different people,<br />
like the houseguests who asked why we had pharmacy<br />
bags in the fridge. We even learned to deal with the conversations<br />
that didn’t have answers – “Sorry. I didn’t get<br />
your phone message. No, I’m not trying to avoid you but I<br />
wasn’t here when you phoned. I know it doesn’t seem early<br />
to be out of the house at 7:00am. No, we didn’t go on holiday.”<br />
On Erev Shabbos I met a friend on his way home. He<br />
had been out walking and had found a nest with eggs in it<br />
and he wanted us to participate in the mitzvah of shiluach<br />
hakan. This mitzvah is particularly special for those who<br />
have not yet been blessed with children, as the posuk tells<br />
us: Shaleach tishlach haem v’es habanim tekach lach. Since<br />
this verse discusses taking the children for oneself, performing<br />
this mitzvah is a known segulah for having children.<br />
The particulars of this mitzvah are quite complicated;<br />
you have to ensure that the nest is in a public place, you<br />
have to send away the mother bird and not the male who<br />
sits on the nest during the day and you need to shoo away<br />
the bird via your hand (a stick is OK as its is like an extension<br />
of your hand) – you can’t do it by making a noise.<br />
We carefully reviewed these laws over Shabbos, and on<br />
Sunday evening we were rearing and ready to go. My friend,<br />
my wife and I all drove to the nearby retail park where the<br />
nest was located. We pulled into a small car park that was<br />
surrounded by trees on three sides. We all got out quietly,<br />
my friend with his torch, me with a stick with which to<br />
shake the nest and my wife with her camera and trusted<br />
Tehillim. My friend looked for the tree with the nest, but<br />
it seemed to have disappeared into thin air. We just<br />
couldn’t find it. Not being one to give up easily, he decided<br />
to come back the next day, in the light, to see if he could<br />
find it again.<br />
The next afternoon, we got a phone call. My friend had<br />
found the nest and had marked it by tying a red balloon<br />
around the tree. That way, we would be sure to locate the<br />
nest when we would go back that evening.<br />
Off we went to try again. Driving into the car park, we<br />
left the car headlights on so that we could locate the balloon<br />
and the nest. Lo and behold, there was the balloon. I<br />
crept into the undergrowth and looked up. There, right<br />
above me was the nest. I could see the bird sitting on her<br />
eggs but there was no way I could reach it. Have no fear –<br />
my friend had come prepared! He brought out his kitchen<br />
stool from the back of his car and we pushed it up against<br />
the tree. Cautiously, I climbed up and reaching out, I could<br />
see the nest clearly but there was no way that I could reach<br />
the eggs. The kitchen stool was just not tall enough. Off<br />
we went, home again.<br />
‘If at first you don’t succeed, try again.’ As veterans of<br />
the infertility world, we had learnt by now that not all<br />
things work out as planned the first time, or even the second<br />
or third time! Not being easily discouraged, off we<br />
went for a third attempt. This time we were joined by a<br />
very long ladder, a long stick and a new friend who we<br />
thought may be able to help. Once again, we drove into<br />
the car park, located ‘our’ tree, set up the ladder so that I<br />
could climb up, and shoo away the mother bird with my<br />
stick. We were so intent on our task that we didn’t take<br />
onto account the noise. We looked up the nest just in time<br />
to see that mother bird fly off. Maybe this wasn’t supposed<br />
to be. Ever the optimist, my friend decided that we would<br />
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