[Avodah] Tu B'Shvat "Don't Cut Your Nose to Spite Your

[Zev Sero]

Michael Makovi wrote:

> I think the Torah is talking more about a siege, where we are in
> control, and we would chop the trees just to spite them. In other
> words, it won't hurt the invader (us) to siege them *without* chopping
> the trees. We are in control anyway.

Not exactly.  We need to chop down trees to build siege engines.  The
question is which trees to cut.  If it were on our own land, there would
be no question - we would cut the trees of least economic value, which
usually means the non-fruit-bearing ones.  They exist for timber, and
that's what we'd use them for, leaving the fruit trees to bear crops.
But we are not on our own land.  That is to say, the individual soldier
who was sent out with an axe has his farm and his orchard back in EY,
and the trees here are never likely to be his.  So what does he care
which tree to cut?  The natural thing would be to take the closest ones,
or just to pick some at random.  So the Torah tells us no, don't waste
the economic resource just because it isn't yours.  At the end of the
war it will be *somebody's*, so take care of it as if it were yours,
and chop down only what you would do on your own land.

-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas