איוב, פרק ל״ט, פסוק י״ז

The ostrich exhibits behavior that appears harsh and irresponsible toward her own eggs and young. However, this neglect does not stem from malice, but rather from a deliberate absence of basic maternal instincts. The primary approach among commentators is that God intentionally withheld from her the natural sense and logic found in other birds, which carefully guard their offspring [מצודת ציון, רלב״ג, אבן עזרא, שטיינזלץ]. God completely deprived her of this awareness, resulting in an absolute forgetting. Her mind is left with no ability to retrieve or reconstruct this basic maternal knowledge [מלבי״ם].

This intellectual deficiency exists on two distinct levels. First, she is deprived of wisdom, which is defined as knowledge acquired from an external source; God caused her to completely forget this information. Second, she lacks understanding, which is the internal mental ability to deduce one concept from another. God did not grant her any share in this basic internal capacity [מלבי״ם].

Because of this twofold lack of sense, the ostrich is simply unable to comprehend potential dangers. She cannot deduce that a passing foot might crush her eggs, and therefore she abandons them on the ground without any protection [רמב״ן, מצודת דוד, אלשיך].