Shabbos Shira

This Shabbos is Shabbos Shira. An ancient minhag associated with this Shabbos is to put out food for the birds before lecht bentsching. There are all kinds of reasons given for our doing so, but this week at least there is a practical reason not related to scripture: the snow and ice blanketing much of the country makes it difficult for the birds to find food.

Just a few practical tips. Don't just sprinkle bread crumbs on top of the snow; the birds don't like feeling insecure and won't hop down to eat where there is soft snow, not to mention that the crumbs get soggy and sink through the snow. Put the crumbs in a container such as a foil pan and place on a solid surface. Alternately, you can hang food balls from the branches of trees or bushes. Mix together your crumbs with some peanut butter. Take a piece of string or thin rope and form a loop big enough to fit over the end of a branch. Form the peanut butter/bread mixture into a ball around the non-loop end of the string and press together. I mix in some crushed cereal with my crumb mixture. Our birds seem to like honey nut Cheerios. I also throw in some hulled sunflower seeds, the unsalted variety.