There are many mitzvot in the Torah that seem to apply to specific circumstances or a particular situation, but from which the Sages draw far-reaching implications. One of these, the prohibition against cutting down fruit trees when besieging an enemy city, appears in Shoftim in the context of laws pertaining to warfare. The Rabbis deduce from what appears to be a law specifically legislated to govern a very rare case the overarching prohibition against destroying anything useful without good reason – bal tashchit.
A few practical examples of this prohibition include not throwing away useable clothing, furniture, or books; not wasting food or water; not hunting for sport; and so on. The Rabbis urge us to make every effort to pass useful items we longer need on to others rather than throwing them in the garbage. In our day, this also means that we should collect paper, plastics, and glass, so that they can be reused or recycled.
Aside from its practical applications, this principle is vitally important in correcting a basic misconception regarding Judaism’s approach to the environment and ecology. Unfortunately, many people mistakenly fault the Torah as the source of an attitude that leads to the careless destruction of our world and its resources. They quote the following verse in Genesis without understanding its real meaning: “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea, the bird of the sky and every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). They understand the command to “fill the earth and subdue it” in a way Judaism never did.
According to Jewish tradition this command in no way means that humanity should subdue the earth by destroying the very ecosystem that sustains it, nor does it mean that humanity should carelessly rule over God’s other creatures without giving a thought to the pain caused them, or, in an extreme case, to their possible extinction. It simply means that humanity should strive to rise above being at the mercy of the elements of nature and should subdue and rule the earth in a way that benefits humankind and the earth upon which it lives.
God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden “to work it and to guard it” (Genesis 2:15). A well-known Midrash recounts that God warned Adam that if he were to act rashly and abuse the beautiful world God has given him, there would be no one to repair it for him. This Midrash stresses humanity’s ultimate responsibility for the survival of the world and the irrevocable danger posed by our wantonly and unthinkingly destroying it (Kohelet Rabbah 7:13).
Preserving our environment is a Torah imperative that applies to individuals as well as to cities, countries, and the international community. This commandment highlights how much Judaism has to teach us about addressing and solving fundamental global problems. We just need to delve into the Torah and figure out how to apply it. As in all areas of rectification the work begins on the individual level, as each and every person decides to put the holy concepts of the Torah into practice. God has truly given us a beautiful world and it is up to us to “work it and to guard it.”
