When you besiege a city for a many days in making war against it to take it, do not destroy the trees with axes; you should eat them, but do not cut them down. For is a tree of the field a person, that you should go and besiege it?
(יט) כי האדם עץ השדה. הרי כי משמש בלשון דלמא שמא האדם עץ השדה להכנס בתוך המצור מפניך להתיסר ביסורי רעב וצמא כאנשי העיר, למה תשחיתנו:
Is the tree of the field a man, to go into the siege before you?: The word כִּי here means“perhaps:” Is the tree of the field perhaps a man who is to go into the siege, that it should be punished by the suffering of hunger and thirst like the people of the city? Why should you destroy it?
(יט) לא תשחית את עצה לנדוח עליו גרזן לא תשחית את העץ כדי לנדוח עליו גרזן משחית בלבד שלא לצורך אלא להזיק לבני העיר:
C1500 (19) Do not destroy its trees merely in order to practice wielding an axe. Destruction must not be wanton; it is justified only if it serves to harm the enemy residing within the city.
ולא האילנות בלבד, אלא כל המשבר כלים, וקורע בגדים, והורס בניין, וסותם מעיין, ומאבד מאכלות דרך השחתה--עובר ב”לא תשחית”
Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 6:10
Maimonides 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.'
...אמר רב זוטרא האי מאן דמיכסי שרגא דמשחא ומגלי נפטא קעבר משום בל תשחית...
One who covers an oil lamp [causing the flame to burn inefficiently] or uncovers a kerosene lamp [allowing the fuel to evaporate faster] violates the prohibition of bal tashchit.
Rabbeinu Yerucham (1280–1350, Spain) prohibits wasting water when others are in need
א לְהַשְׁחִית אִילָנֵי מַאֲכָל שֶׁתִּדְבַּק בָּנוּ הַטּוֹבָה, וְנַרְחִיק מִכָּל דָּבָר רָע וּמִכָּל כָּ ...שּׁרֶֹשׁ הַמִּצְוָה יָדוּעַ , שֶׁהוּא כְּדֵי לְלַמֵּד נַפְשֵׁנוּ לֶאֱהבֹ הַטּוֹב וְהַתּוֹעֶלֶת וּלְהִדָּבֵק בּוֹ, וּמִתּוֹ יְאַבְּדוּ אֲפִלּוּ גַּרְגִּיר שֶׁל הַחֲסִידִים וְאַנְשֵׁי מַעֲשֶׂה אוֹהֲבִים שָׁלוֹם וּשְׂמֵחִים בְטוּב הַבְּרִיּוֹת וּמְקָרְבִים אוֹתָן לַתּוֹרָה, ְדְּבַר הַשְׁחָתָה, וְזֶהוּ דֶּרֶ חַרְדָּל בָּעוֹלָם, וְיֵצַר עֲלֵיהֶם בְּכָל אֲבַדּוֹן וְהַשְׁחָתָה שֶׁיִּרְאוּ, וְאִם יוּכְלוּ לְהַצִּיל יַצִּילוּ כָּל דָּבָר מֵהַשְׁחִית בְּכָל כּחָֹם...
1200's “The root reason for the precept [of Bal Tashchit/do not destroy] is known: for it is in order to train our spirits to love what is good and beneficial and to cling to it; and as a result, good fortune will cling to us, and we will move well away from every evil thing and from every matter of destructiveness. [This is the way of the kindly men of piety and the conscientiously observant; they love peace and are happy at the good fortune of people, and bring them near the Torah.] They will not destroy even a mustard seed in the world, and they are distressed at every ruination and spoilage that they see; and if they are able to do any rescuing, they will save anything from destruction, with all their power.”
(ו) לרחם על כל הנבראים - עוֹד צָרִיךְ לִהְיוֹת רַחֲמָיו פְּרוּשִׂים עַל כָּל הַנִּבְרָאִים, לֹא יְבַזֵּם וְלֹא יְאַבְּדֵם. שֶׁהֲרֵי הַחָכְמָה הָעֶלְיוֹנָה הִיא פְרוּשָׂה עַל כָּל הַנִּבְרָאִים דּוֹמֵם וְצוֹמֵחַ וְחַי וּמְדַבֵּר. וּמִטַּעַם זֶה הֻזְהַרְנוּ מִבִּזּוּי אוֹכְלִים. וְעַל דָּבָר זֶה רָאוּי, שֶׁכְּמוֹ שֶׁהַחָכְמָה הָעֶלְיוֹנָה אֵינָהּ מְבַזָּה שׁוּם נִמְצָא וְהַכֹּל נַעֲשָׂה מִשָּׁם כְּדִכְתִיב "כֻּלָּם בְּחָכְמָה עָשִׂיתָ"
Rabbi Moshe Cordovero 1500's
(6) ... Furthermore, his mercy should extend to all creatures, neither destroying nor despising any of them. For the Supernal Wisdom is extended to all created things- minerals, plants, animals and humans. This is the reason why we were warned against despising food. In this way man's pity should be extended to all the works of the Blessed One just as the Supernal Wisdom despises no created thing for they are all created from that source, as it is written (Tehillim 104: 24): 'In wisdom You have made them all.'.
(יג)בשעה שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא את אדם הראשון, נטלו והחזירו על כל אילני גן עדן, ואמר לו: ראה מעשי כמה נאים ומשובחין הן, וכל מה שבראתי, בשבילך בראתי, תן דעתך שלא תקלקל ותחריב את עולמי, שאם קלקלת אין מי שיתקן אחריך.
(13) When the Blessed Holy One created the first human, He took him and led him round all the trees of the Garden of Eden and said to him: “Look at My works, how beautiful and praiseworthy they are! And all that I have created, it was for you that I created it. Pay attention that you do not corrupt and destroy My world: if you corrupt it, there is no one to repair it.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888, Germany) lo tashchit, “do not destroy,” is “the most comprehensive warning to human beings not to misuse the position which G‑d has given them as masters of the world and its matter through capricious, passionate, or merely thoughtless wasteful destruction of anything on earth.”
Rabbi Moshe Aaron Poleyeff (1888–1967) wrote that overeating may be a double transgression of bal tashchit—first by wasting food, and second by harming one’s body.
Rabbi Shaya Karlinsky (contemporary, Israel) considers taking more food than one can eat at a buffet to be bal tashchit
Minor Aggadic Tractate אבות דרבי נתן 700-900C
אִם הָיְתָה נְטִיעָה בְּתוֹךְ יָדָךְ וְיֹאמְרוּ לָּךְ "הֲרֵי לָךְ הַמָּשִׁיחַ", בּוֹא וּנְטַע אֶת הַנְטִיעָה וְאַחַר כָּךְ צֵא וְהַקְבִּילוֹ
Avot d'Rabbi Natan 31b
Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai used to say: If you have a sapling in your hand and are planting it, and someone should say to you that the Messiah has come, stay and complete the planting, and only then go to greet the Messiah.
(י) אַרְבַּע מִדּוֹת בָּאָדָם. הָאוֹמֵר שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלִּי וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלָּךְ, זוֹ מִדָּה בֵינוֹנִית. וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים, זוֹ מִדַּת סְדוֹם. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלָּךְ וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלִּי, עַם הָאָרֶץ. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלָּךְ וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלָּךְ, חָסִיד. שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלִּי וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלִּי, רָשָׁע:
There are four character types among people: One who says “My property is mine and yours is yours” is an average character type, but some say the characteristic of Sodom. One who says, “mine is yours and yours is mine” is an unlearned person. One who says, “Mine is yours and yours is yours” is pious. One who says “Yours is mine and mine is mine” is wicked.