(27) And God created humankind in His image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.
(28) God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.”
(15) The LORD God placed the human in the garden of Eden, to work it and to guard it.
בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁבָּרָא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֶת אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן, נְטָלוֹ וְהֶחֱזִירוֹ עַל כָּל אִילָנֵי גַּן עֵדֶן, וְאָמַר לוֹ, רְאֵה מַעֲשַׂי כַּמָּה נָאִים וּמְשֻׁבָּחִין הֵן, וְכָל מַה שֶּׁבָּרָאתִי בִּשְׁבִילְךָ בָּרָאתִי, תֵּן דַּעְתְּךָ שֶׁלֹא תְקַלְקֵל וְתַחֲרִיב אֶת עוֹלָמִי, שֶׁאִם קִלְקַלְתָּ אֵין מִי שֶׁיְתַקֵּן אַחֲרֶיךָ:
When the Holy One blessed be He created Adam the first man, He took him and showed him all the trees in the Garden of Eden, and He said to him: ‘See My creations, how beautiful and exemplary they are. Everything I created, I created for you. Make certain that you do not ruin and destroy My world, as if you destroy it, there will be no one to mend it after you.
The earth is the LORD’s and all that it holds,
the world and its inhabitants. (2) For He founded it upon the ocean,
set it on the nether-streams.
Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik (1903, Belarus - 1993, USA) - There is an unavoidable dynamic tension between the capacity to exercise control over nature and the duty to act toward nature with a sense of fiduciary responsibility
(ח) זָכ֛וֹר֩ אֶת־י֥֨וֹם הַשַּׁבָּ֖֜ת לְקַדְּשֽׁ֗וֹ (ט) שֵׁ֤֣שֶׁת יָמִ֣ים֙ תַּֽעֲבֹ֔ד֮ וְעָשִׂ֖֣יתָ כָּל־מְלַאכְתֶּֽךָ֒ (י) וְי֙וֹם֙ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔֜י שַׁבָּ֖֣ת ׀ לַיהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֗יךָ לֹֽ֣א־תַעֲשֶׂ֣֨ה כָל־מְלָאכָ֡֜ה אַתָּ֣ה ׀ וּבִנְךָֽ֣־וּ֠בִתֶּ֗ךָ עַבְדְּךָ֤֨ וַאֲמָֽתְךָ֜֙ וּבְהֶמְתֶּ֔֗ךָ וְגֵרְךָ֖֙ אֲשֶׁ֥֣ר בִּשְׁעָרֶֽ֔יךָ
(8) Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. (9) Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (10) but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God: you shall not do any work [melacha] —you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements.
- Isadore Grunfeld, The Sabbath: A Guide to Its Understanding and Observance, 1972
- Rabbi Saul Berman, Jewish Environmental Values - The Dynamic Tension Between Nature and Human Needs
(19) When in your war against a city you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy [lo tashchit] its trees, wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down. For is the tree in the field a man to join the besieged to escape you?
(20) 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 conquered.
(א) שהזהירנו מהשחית האילנות כשנצור על עיר כדי להצר לאנשיה ולהכאיב לבם. הוא אמרו יתעלה לא תשחית את עצה, וכן כל הפסד נכנס תחת לאו זה כגון מי שישרוף בגד לריק או ישבור כלי גם כן עובר משום לא תשחית ולוקה, ואמר אזהרתה מהכא כי ממנו תאכל ואותו לא תכרות. וכבר נתבארו מפשטי מצוה זו בבבא קמא ובבא בתרא. (שופטים ושוטרים, שם):
Maimonides (Rambam) - "The Book of Commandments"
(1) That when we go to besiege a city, He prohibited us from destroying trees in order to distress its people and sadden their hearts. And that is His, may He be exalted, saying, "you must not destroy its trees" (Deuteronomy 20:19). And likewise does any waste come under this prohibition - such as one who burns up a garment for nothing or breaks a vessel. He also transgresses on account of, "you must not destroy," and is lashed. And [they] said (Makkot 22a), "And its prohibition is from here - 'for from it shall you eat, but it shall you not cut down.'"
(ח) אֵין קוֹצְצִין אִילָנֵי מַאֲכָל שֶׁחוּץ לַמְּדִינָה וְאֵין מוֹנְעִין מֵהֶם אַמַּת הַמַּיִם כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּיבְשׁוּ. שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים כ, יט) "לֹא תַשְׁחִית אֶת עֵצָהּ". וְכָל הַקּוֹצֵץ לוֹקֶה. וְלֹא בְּמָצוֹר בִּלְבַד אֶלָּא בְּכָל מָקוֹם כָּל הַקּוֹצֵץ אִילַן מַאֲכָל דֶּרֶךְ הַשְׁחָתָה לוֹקֶה. אֲבָל קוֹצְצִין אוֹתוֹ אִם הָיָה מַזִּיק אִילָנוֹת אֲחֵרִים. אוֹ מִפְּנֵי שֶׁמַּזִּיק בִּשְׂדֵה אֲחֵרִים. אוֹ מִפְּנֵי שֶׁדָּמָיו יְקָרִים. לֹא אָסְרָה תּוֹרָה אֶלָּא דֶּרֶךְ הַשְׁחָתָה:
(ט) כָּל אִילַן סְרָק מֻתָּר לָקֹץ אוֹתוֹ וַאֲפִלּוּ אֵינוֹ צָרִיךְ לוֹ. וְכֵן אִילַן מַאֲכָל שֶׁהִזְקִין וְאֵינוֹ עוֹשֶׂה אֶלָּא דָּבָר מוּעָט שֶׁאֵינוֹ רָאוּי לִטְרֹחַ בּוֹ מֻתָּר לָקֹץ אוֹתוֹ. וְכַמָּה יְהֵא הַזַּיִת עוֹשֶׂה וְלֹא יְקֻצֶּנּוּ. רֹבַע הַקַּב זֵיתִים. וְדֶקֶל שֶׁהוּא עוֹשֶׂה קַב תְּמָרִים לֹא יְקֻצֶּנּוּ:
(י) וְלֹא הָאִילָנוֹת בִּלְבַד. אֶלָּא כָּל הַמְשַׁבֵּר כֵּלִים. וְקוֹרֵעַ בְּגָדִים. וְהוֹרֵס בִּנְיָן. וְסוֹתֵם מַעְיָן. וּמְאַבֵּד מַאֲכָלוֹת דֶּרֶךְ הַשְׁחָתָה. עוֹבֵר בְּלֹא תַשְׁחִית. וְאֵינוֹ לוֹקֶה אֶלָּא מַכַּת מַרְדּוּת מִדִּבְרֵיהֶם:
Maimonides (Rambam)
(8) ...This does not apply only in a siege, but in all situations. Anyone who cuts down a fruit tree with a destructive intent, should be lashed.
Nevertheless, a fruit tree may be cut down if it causes damage to other trees or to fields belonging to others, or if a high price could be received for its wood. The Torah only prohibited cutting down a tree with a destructive intent.
(9) It is permissible to cut down any non-fruit bearing tree, even if one has no need for it. Similarly, one may cut down a fruit bearing tree that has become old and produces only a slight yield which does not warrant the effort required to care for it...
(10) This prohibition does not apply to trees alone. Rather, anyone who breaks utensils, tears garments, destroys buildings, stops up a spring, or ruins food with a destructive intent transgresses the command 'Do not destroy'...
- The Gemara in Bava Kamma (91b-92a), with remarkable understated radicalism, suggests that protection even of fruit-growing trees may be overridden by economic need.
- The Gemara in Shabbat (128b-129a) contends that destruction for protection of health is permissible.
- Elsewhere, the Gemara in Shabbat (140b) goes even further in indicating that personal aesthetic preference is sufficient to justify what would otherwise constitute a wasteful use of natural resources.
- The Gemara of Shabbat (105b) in yet a third location, to top off these indications, contends that the gratification of a psychological need is sufficient also to override the prohibition of Lo Tash'chit [do not destroy].
- Indeed, in the context of all of these exemptions, it is difficult to construct a case in which violation of Lo Tash'chit would be actually be present.
It is this view which is in turn codified by Rambam in his selection of the term derech hash'chata ("in a wasteful fashion"), which suggests that only wasteful destruction falls within the purview of the prohibition.
- Rabbi Saul Berman, Jewish Environmental Values - The Dynamic Tension Between Nature and Human Needs
- Rabbi Saul Berman, Jewish Environmental Values - The Dynamic Tension Between Nature and Human Needs (1995)
"The biblical imperative requires finding a balance between transformation and preservation."
- Eliezer Diamond, "Jewish Perspectives on Limiting Consumption" (1988)