Bal Tashkhit - Do not be Wasteful
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Sefer HaChinuch, Mitzvah 529
Translation Original
This is the way of the pious and people of deeds...they will not waste even a mustard seed in the world, and they are distressed by any waste and destruction they see. [AJWS translation]
וזהו דרך החסידים ואנשי מעשה, ולא יאבדו אפילו גרגר של חרדל בעולם, ויצר עליהם בכל אבדון והשחתה שיראו.
Suggested Discussion Questions

1. What are the common attributes of the pious and righteous? How does this text fit into this?
2. What waste that you witness distresses you? How can we work to prevent waste and destruction?

Proverbs 27:7
נֶפֶשׁ שְׂבֵעָה תָּבוּס נֹפֶת וְנֶפֶשׁ רְעֵבָה כָּל מַר מָתוֹק:
Proverbs.27.7
A sated person disdains honey, but to a hungry person anything bitter seems sweet. [JPS translation edited for gender neutrality]
Suggested Discussion Questions

1. What happens if we replace "honey" with "junk food?"


2. Is it enough to feed the hungry, or do we have an added responsibility to feed them well?

Deuteronomy 20:19-20
כִּי תָצוּר אֶל עִיר יָמִים רַבִּים לְהִלָּחֵם עָלֶיהָ לְתָפְשָׂהּ לֹא תַשְׁחִית אֶת עֵצָהּ לִנְדֹּחַ עָלָיו גַּרְזֶן כִּי מִמֶּנּוּ תֹאכֵל וְאֹתוֹ לֹא תִכְרֹת כִּי הָאָדָם עֵץ הַשָּׂדֶה לָבֹא מִפָּנֶיךָ בַּמָּצוֹר: רַק עֵץ אֲשֶׁר תֵּדַע כִּי לֹא עֵץ מַאֲכָל הוּא אֹתוֹ תַשְׁחִית וְכָרָתָּ וּבָנִיתָ מָצוֹר עַל הָעִיר אֲשֶׁר הִוא עֹשָׂה עִמְּךָ מִלְחָמָה עַד רִדְתָּהּ
Deuteronomy.20.19-20
When in your war against a city you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you may not cut them down. Are trees of the field human to withdraw before you into the besieged city? Only trees that you know do not yield food may be destroyed; you may cut them down for constructing siegeworks against the city that is waging war on you, until it has been reduced. [JPS translation]
Suggested Discussion Questions

1. What is the intention of this law? To what extent is it followed?
2. What does this text imply about the relationship of people and the environment?
3. What does this text imply in our broader considerations about war?

Jeremiah 29:4-7
(ד) כֹּה אָמַר יְקֹוָק צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְכָל הַגּוֹלָה אֲשֶׁר הִגְלֵיתִי מִירוּשָׁלִַם בָּבֶלָה: (ה) בְּנוּ בָתִּים וְשֵׁבוּ וְנִטְעוּ גַנּוֹת וְאִכְלוּ אֶת פִּרְיָן: (ו) קְחוּ נָשִׁים וְהוֹלִידוּ בָּנִים וּבָנוֹת וּקְחוּ לִבְנֵיכֶם נָשִׁים וְאֶת בְּנוֹתֵיכֶם תְּנוּ לַאֲנָשִׁים וְתֵלַדְנָה בָּנִים וּבָנוֹת וּרְבוּ שָׁם וְאַל תִּמְעָטוּ: (ז) וְדִרְשׁוּ אֶת שְׁלוֹם הָעִיר אֲשֶׁר הִגְלֵיתִי אֶתְכֶם שָׁמָּה וְהִתְפַּלְלוּ בַעֲדָהּ אֶל יְקֹוָק כִּי בִשְׁלוֹמָהּ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם שָׁלוֹם:
Jeremiah.29.4-7
Thus said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, to the whole community which I exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, do not decrease. And seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to the Lord in its behalf; for in its prosperity you shall prosper. [JPS translation]
Suggested Discussion Questions
1. Why do we seek the welfare of the cities in which we live? Why is this commanded to us, and not assumed to be obvious?
2. How is this text a model for cultural diversity? How is it a model for coexistence?
Maimonides, Mishneh Torah Laws of Kings 6:10
Translation Original
Not only one who cuts down a fruit tree, but anyone who destroys household goods, tears clothing, demolishes a building stops up a spring, or ruins food deliberately, violates the prohibition of Bal Tashchit,‘do not destroy.' [Translation by Big Green Jewish]
ולא האילנות בלבד, אלא כל המשבר כלים, וקורע בגדים, והורס בניין, וסותם מעיין, ומאבד מאכלות דרך השחתה-- עובר ב”לא תשחית”
Suggested Discussion Questions

1. In what ways is each of these actions destructive? How are they different?
2. Why is there a prohibition to destroy? What types of behaviors can we learn from these prohibitions?

Babylonian Talmud, Baba Kama 91b
בבא קמא צ״א ב:י׳-י״א
אמר רבי אלעזר: שמעתי, שהמקרע על המת יותר מדאי - לוקה משום בל תשחית, וכ"ש גופו; ודלמא בגדים שאני, דפסידא דלא הדר הוא! כי הא דרבי יוחנן קרי למאני מכבדותא, ורב חסדא כד הוה מסגי ביני היזמי והגא, מדלי להו למאניה, אמר: זה מעלה ארוכה, וזה אינו מעלה ארוכה!
Bava Kamma 91b:10-11
Rabbi Eliezer said: "I heard that a person who excessively tears his/her clothing in mourning receives a lashing [the punishment] for the prohibition against being wasteful (bal tashchit). How much more so [should one be liable for damaging] one's body." But maybe clothes are different, because [rending one's clothes] is damage that will not be undone?!...Whenever Rav Hisda passed through thorns and thistles he would lift up his garment, saying, [my body] can be healed, but [my clothes] can't be "healed."
Suggested Discussion Questions

1) Why do you think Rabbi Eliezer thinks that damaging your body is a violation of Bal Tashchit? How does the story about Rav Hisda challenge this assumption?
2) Rabbi Eliezer is known to be rather wealthy and Rav Hisda is known to be impoverished. How do you think their respective financial situations affect their opinions here, if at all?
3) What concern do both Rav Hisda and Rabbi Eliezer share despite their difference in opinion?
4) Which opinion resonates more with you?