Red-shouldered Hawk : The Forest for the Trees

This is a Red-shouldered Hawk. It’s one of the two parents sitting on their nest. From this perspective, both the hawk and the nest are utterly obvious, so easy to see. The prior day, I couldn’t find either…. Days ago, a helpful birder in the park had told me about this nest and even given me a helpful landmark, a footpath headed towards the river, off the main trail. I dutifully investigated the trail, traveled the footpath, and found myself in a small clearing. No nest there. Just animal bones. I was both disappointed not to find the nest and equally curious about the story that led to these bones in the clearing. What really baffled me, though, was how I could possibly be missing the nest when I’d been told just where it was.

There are numerous methods of studying Talmud. One such approach, pilpul, has even found its way into more colloquial speech, essentially meaning to get so far down into the minutiae of the argument that you lose sight of the more important meanings. These students emphasized their cleverness and skill in debate, often at the expense of perspective. There is no question that Talmud study is tremendously effective at sharpening one’s intellectual capabilities and honing discernment. But fundamentally, Talmud is intended as a real guide to life rather than purely an academic exercise. Put another way, the scholars engaging in pilpul, while brilliant and learned, in some ways missed the forest for the trees.

Why didn’t I see the hawk the first day? I was in precisely the right place. The light was good, and the birds were active. I had everything working in my favor except the most basic necessity: an openness to looking all around. I was so engrossed - on the right trail, the right footpath, the right tree - that I was looking north… for a nest to my south! My rigid preconception of where the nest was - to the north - estopped me from simply scanning all around, looking with open eyes in every direction. Slavishly following my friend’s instructions took precedence over the most basic lesson of bird photography: go look. Finding our real targets, whether a Hawk or Talmud’s meaning, requires our openness to genuine looking.