Taamei Hamitzvos - Cutting Down Fruit Trees
Reasons Behind the Mitzvos
By Rabbi Shmuel Kraines
“Study improves the quality of the act and completes it, and a mitzvah is more beautiful when it emerges from someone who understands its significance.” (Meiri, Bava Kama 17a)
Mitzvah #529; Devarim 20:19-20
On Tu B’Shvat, the Rosh Hashanah of fruit trees, it is customary to enjoy fruits and to praise Hashem for the kindness of their creation. We will explore a Mitzvah relevant to this theme.
In Parashas Shoftim, where the Torah sets forth the laws of warfare, we are taught: When you besiege a city many days to fight it and conquer it, do not destroy its trees by waving an axe against it, for [a tree] you shall eat from and not cut down, for is a tree of the field a man, to come under siege before you? (Devarim 20:19)
This verse prohibits cutting down fruit trees, even for the constructive purpose of building siege towers around an enemy city, when this could be accomplished by cutting down fruitless or dead trees instead. The verse exhorts us to appreciate fruit trees with the words, “ki ha’adam hu eitz hasadeh”(translated above, for is a tree of the field a man?),which may also be interpreted to mean, “for man is a tree of the field,” that is, man’s life depends on the tree’s fruit. The Sages add that if the Torah instructs us to be considerate of trees that bear fruit, then all the more must we be considerate of fruit themselves (see Sifri §203). This Torah prohibition is the basis of the Rabbinically-ordained prohibition against wasting in general, known as bal tashchis (do not waste).
According to Sefer HaChinuch,the reason behind this Mitzvah is more than “waste not want not.” He explains that this Mitzvah is designed to educate us to avoid destructiveness, negativity, and evil, and instead to pursue constructiveness, positivity, and good. By simply avoiding wasting, we train ourselves to share the positive outlook of the pious, as a person's deeds influence his mind. The pious do not waste even a mustard seed, and they find good even in evildoers and seek to draw them near to the Torah. They feel distressed over any destruction they witness and will do their best to spare what they can. In stark contrast, the wicked destroy and rejoice over destruction.
We may suggest further that the Torah instructs us against acting destructively specifically before a battle, even though this Mitzvah applies at all times, because this matter becomes crucial at that time. In the heat of battle, a soldier is liable to become overcome with bloodlust and to act with destructive abandon, even crossing the boundaries of the Torah’s warfare regulations and other Mitzvos. By instructing a soldier not to act destructively when cutting down trees for siege towers, the Torah reminds him that even when he will soon have to cut down human beings, he must do so with the rational, constructive purpose of removing the wicked enemies of the Jewish people (see also Taanis 7a).
The verse also contains a deeper layer of meaning, which requires a brief preface. On the third day of Creation, Hashem commanded fruit trees to come into being with their wood sharing the taste of their fruits. Some interpret this as an allusion to the esoteric idea that this world was initially meant to include the goodness of the World to Come (see Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh, Tu B’Shvat). The trees disobeyed this instruction and came into being with tasteless trunks. Panim Yafos to our verse maintains that this sin of the trees was a consequence of Adam’s subsequent sin, for sins can sometimes affect on the past. It emerges that if not for Adam’s sin, nobody would consider cutting down a fruit tree — which would be entirely edible — for its wood when there are enough fruitless trees available.
Based on Panim Yafos’s insight, we may suggest that the words, “for is a tree of the field adam (lit., a man)?” may be interpreted to mean, “for is a tree of the field Adam?” That is to say, is a fruit tree Adam, that it should deserve to be cut down for its wood on account of his sin? According to this interpretation, this Mitzvah instructs us to be especially careful to avoid acting destructively toward that which is deficient on account of us. We may learn from this to accept and embrace whatever lot Hashem has apportioned us, which is exactly what we deserve, instead of always seeking to replace what we have with something we think may be better. As the Sefer HaChinuch has explained, by simply appreciating all the good that Hashem has granted us, we train ourselves to desire good and to follow the ways of the pious, which lead to boundless enjoyment in the World to Come.
