The Torah promises long life as the reward for the fulfillment of two commandments: honoring one's parents and sending away the mother bird before taking her brood. We are taught that the apparent failure of this promise to materialize for a boy who helped his father send away the mother bird powerfully impressed the great sage Elisha Ben Avuyah, leading him to become the notorious heretic Acher. This week's conversation attempts to unpack this challenging teaching, which is surprisingly bound with the most fundamental issues, including death, immortality, resurrection, the world to come, and the eating of the Tree of Knowledge.
