Chapter 17 | The Halachot of War and Destruction

The horrors of war are first and foremost rooted in the heavy price it pays for the human race: the dead, the wounded, the psychological traumatized, etc. Alongside this, environmental destruction and the elimination of resources and crops have existed as part of the war process throughout history. Biblical descriptions of loss in war are always accompanied by depictions of ecological damage: ¹ “For a nation has invaded my land… they have laid my vines waste and splintered my fig trees” (Yoel 1:6-7); “For the mountains I take up weeping and wailing, for the pastures in the wilderness, a dirge. They are laid waste; nobody passes through, and no sound of cattle is heard. Birds of the sky and beasts as well have fled and are gone” (Jeremiah 9:9). At times this is done as a deterrence after conquering: “[Avimelech] razed the town and sowed it with salt” (Shoftim 9:45). At times it was part of the combat itself, “He lit the torches and turned [the foxes] loose among the standing grain of the Philistines, setting fire to stacked grain, standing grain, vineyards, [and] olive trees” (Shoftim 15:5)

The practice of burning down conquered cities or sowing them with salt is less common nowadays, however modern warfare technology creates unproportionate environmental damage compared to the past, due to destructive chemical compounds that disperse in large quantities and affect the ground and water, as well as the destruction of the habitat of animals, leading to their extinction ³. When there is security tension, people tend not to take the importance of environmental issues seriously, as they are seen as less pressing ⁴. At the time that these words are being written, the opinion of the State of Israel is that it is not available or committed to environmental issues connected with war at the moment, due to the terrible inhumanity that was wrought forth against them. However, complete ignorance from these aspects can create deep, collective damage that will cost many human lives. Because of this, beginning in the 70s, a host of international treaties (including the Geneva convention) prohibited unnecessary harm to the environment during wartime ⁵.

The Halachic Discussion

The most significant acknowledgement of the Torah to environmental issues is stated specifically during times of war: “When you shall besiege a city for many days, to fight and conquer it, do not destroy its trees” (Devarim 20:19). “To teach us that when lives are on the line, when the damage and destruction dominate, and there is great concern that the values of good and beauty and benefit are worn down, the Torah commands the prohibition of bal tashchit” ⁶.

The commentaries disagree when understanding the interpretation of this mitzvah and its restrictions. According to the Ramban, the prohibition is specifically for destruction for the sake of destruction, and only when it is done in a location where we intend to live:

And know this – that this is the commandment with its positive and negative [components], when we besiege a city to fight for and conquer it, we are commanded to have compassion for it as we have compassion for our [cities], perhaps we will conquer it. But when venturing out into enemy land we destroy and damage every good tree, and so too during the siege, to besiege the city’s inhabitants by destroying their trees so they will not live off of them, all of this is permissible. The Torah only prohibited wanton destruction” ⁷.

The Ramban, to contrast, writes “that we are warned against destroying trees when we besiege a city to cause the people suffering and hurt their resolve” ⁸, and his commentators deliberate if the prohibition exists as well if it could further the war goals ⁹. In addition, the Gemara (Bava Kam 91b – 92a) permits using fruit trees in order to build weapons of siege, if there is no available non-fruit bearing tree at a similar price ¹⁰. An additional question deliberated by the authorities is whether the mitzvah was only stated during an offensive war (milchemet reshut) or even in a defensive war (milchemet mitzvah) ¹¹.

Even though it is difficult to render clear and precise halachot based on these sources, most of which specifically deal with destroying fruit trees, there is room to implement the principles that emerge from them. Firstly, one should learn about the prohibition to destroy for the sake of destruction, and even to cause long-term suffering to the enemy when there is no military advantage in its own right. Secondly, one should learn about the need to choose weaponry that causes the least possible environmental harm, as long as it does not have a high economic burden or impact operational efficiency. It is obvious that the primary goal of war is victory over the enemy, and one’s primary efforts should be to achieve this goal. Thus, logic dictates that in practice, commanders in the field have very limited time and resources for other considerations. However, when supplying and planning, one should try to choose methods that will not leave the entire enemy’s land as scorched earth.

In Practice:

At the individual level: our primary focus in war must be dedicated to victory over the enemy and preventing harm to the human race, even at the cost of environmental damage. One is obligated to abstain from destroying the enemy land when there is no operational need.
At the communal level: One should make an effort to equip weaponry with a low environmental impact from the onset, as long as this does not hurt the war effort.
In general, these practical principles are a call to the entire world. Alongside the constant effort to limit violent struggles throughout the world and to promote peace, and beyond the international treaties that bind man – one should bring environmental issues into the sphere of considerations, whether in the attempt to stop war or in the attempt to conduct them with as little damage as possible to our future.

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