Page 14 - HaMizrachi_Tu_Bishvat_2020_USA_HP_Neat

The
Ecological

Imperative

there is a difference between necessary So it is here. First and foremost is
and needless destruction. Trees are a the fact that the earth is not ours. It
source of wood for fortifications. But belongs to its Creator, to G-d Himself.
some trees, those that bear fruit, are That is the point of the first chapter
also a source of food. Therefore, do of the Torah: “In the beginning, G-d
not destroy them. Do not needlessly created…” He made it, therefore He
deprive yourself and others of a pro- is entitled to lay down the conditions
ductive resource. within which we live in it as His guests.

However, Chazal saw in this command The logic of this is immediately
something more than a detail in the played out in the story of the very first
laws of war. They saw it as a binyan av, humans. G-d commands humanity:
a specific example of a more general “Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over
principle. They called this the rule of the fish in the sea and the birds in the
bal tashchit, the prohibition against sky and over every living creature that
3
needless destruction of any kind. As moves on the ground.” “Subdue” and
Rambam says: “Not only does this “rule” are verbs of dominance. Later,
apply to trees, but also whoever breaks however, the text uses two quite dif-
vessels or tears garments, destroys a ferent verbs. G-d placed the first man
building, blocks a wellspring of water, in the Garden “to serve it (le’ovda) and
4
or destructively wastes food, trans- guard it (leshomra).” These belong to
gresses the command of bal tashchit.” 2 the language of responsibility. The first
This is the halachic basis of an ethic of term, le’ovda, tells us that humanity is
n the course of setting out the laws ecological responsibility. not just the master but also the servant
of war, the Torah adds a seem- What determines whether a biblical of nature. The second, leshomra, is the
Iingly minor detail that became the command is to be taken restrictively term used in later biblical legislation to
basis of a much wider field of human or expansively? Why did Chazal take specify the responsibilities of one who
responsibility and is of major conse- this seemingly minor law to build out a undertakes to guard something that is
quence today: not their own.
wide halachic field?
“When you lay siege to a city... do not The simplest answer lies in the word How are we to understand this ten-
destroy its trees by putting an ax to “Torah.” It means law. But it also sion between the two opening chap-
them, because you can eat their fruit. ters? Quite simply: Bereishit 1 tells us
Do not cut them down... However, you means teaching, instruction, direction, about creation and nature, the reality
may cut down trees that you know are guidance. The Torah is a lawbook like mapped by the natural sciences. It
not fruit trees and use them to build no other because it includes not only speaks about humanity as the biolog-
fortifications until the city at war with laws but also narratives, genealogies, ical species, Homo sapiens. What is
you falls.” history, and song. Law as the Torah distinctive about humans as a species
1
conceives it is embedded in a larger is precisely our godlike powers of dom-
War is, the Torah implies, inevitably universe of meanings. Those meanings inating nature and exercising control
destructive. That is why Judaism’s help us understand the context and of the forces that shape the physical
highest value is peace. Nonetheless, purpose of any given law. world. Power is morally neutral. It can
14 |