[Avodah] spiders and King David

[Eli Turkel]

> Bal tashchis gives priority to saving fruit trees over non-fruit bearing
> ones. But can we say that any part of the beri'ah is really unnecessary?
> Didn't David haMelekh ask this about spiders, only to be proven wrong?

This is a famous midrash which I once quoted in a published article.
I was asked to document it and it turned out to be very difficult.
>From memory (it was many years ago) this appears in some little known
medieval collection of midrashim.

As far as I know Baal Taschis applies to the destruction of anything useful
when there is no purpose.
Hence, one should not cut down non fruit bearing trees unless there is
a purpose. In theory one can cut down even a fruit bearing tree given
good enough
of a reason. However, Yavetz claims that this can bring a curse. Thus, poskim
are hesitant to allow cutting fruit trees except in exceptional cases or else
by selling the tree to a goy.
I am not aware of anything in halakha that differentiates between
destroying a species
or just an individual animal/plant.

However, the general approach of science today is that all species are connected
and that changing the ecology by eliminating one species can sometimes effect
the environment in ways not imagined.

-- 
Eli Turkel