Shoftim 5783 Pursuing earth justice

(18) You shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that your God יהוה is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice. (19) You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, because bribes blind the eyes of the wise and twist the plea of the just. (20) Justice, justice shall you pursue, so that you may live and occupy the land that your God יהוה is giving you. (21) You shall not set up an Asherah—any tree, or any post beside the altar of your God יהוה that you may make for yourself.

(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 its trees, wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down. Because the human is a tree of the field to come before you into the besieged city.

(1) FOR IS THE TREE OF THE FIELD MAN.18Hebrew, ki ha-adam etz ha-sadeh. The latter literally means for man is a tree of the field. This, as I.E. goes on to say, does not make sense. Hence the interpretations which follow. I have previously explained in the Sefer Ha-Yesod19A Hebrew grammar composed by I.E. The book survives only in fragments. that it is possible in all languages to be brief and to apply an abbreviated style, ..However, it is impossible to leave out the word lo (no, not),22If one wants to employ an abbreviated style. for in this case the meaning would be reversed.23Onkelos renders ki ha-adam etz ha-sadeh as if written ki ha-adam lo etz ha-sadeh (for the tree of the field is not a man). In other words, Onkelos claims that the word lo has been left out of the verse. I.E. disagrees. Hence his comment. A great Spanish grammarian24I.E. does not identify the grammarian. said that a heh25An interrogative heh. has been omitted.26From the word ki in ki ha-adam etz ha-sadeh. Our clause should be interpreted as if written, hakhi adam etz ha-sadeh (for is the tree of the field man).27Our verse reads, ki ha-adam etz ha-sadeh. The latter literally means for man is a tree of the field. Hence the unnamed grammarian’s interpretation. Now this interpretation does not appear correct to me. Why would Scripture say that you shall not destroy fruit trees, because, unlike a human being, they cannot run away from you?28This is the meaning of our verse if we render ha-khi adam etz ha-sadeh as, for is the tree of the field man. I believe there is no need for all this.29To interpret ki ha-adam etz ha-sadeh as if written ha-khi adam etz ha-sadeh. The following is the meaning of our clause. For thou mayest eat of them, but thou shalt not cut them down, for the tree of the field is man; that is, the life of man is supported by trees.30In other words, ki ha-adam (for man) is short for ki chayye ha-adam (for the life of man).

(1) כי האדם עץ השדה, “is then the tree of the field a man?” Ibn Ezra claiming that there is no need to add additional letters to make this verse intelligible, writes that the life of man can be compared to that of a tree in the field, therefore you must not destroy the fruit-bearing trees. The words: ואותו לא תכרותו, “you shall not cut it down,” belong together with the words לבא מפניך במצור, “that it should enter the siege before you.” Phrased differently, “seeing that the fruit-bearing tree is a lifeline for man how could you consider destroying it?” Nachmanides writes that according to the approach of our sages (Baba Kamma 91) it is permissible to destroy such trees during the siege and to use the timber to erect structures to enable the troops to bring the war to a speedy end. As to the meaning of the subsequent line that only trees that are not fruit-bearing may be cut down, the meaning is that if you have the choice to cut down fruit-bearing trees, or others that you know not to be of the fruit-baring variety, you must first cut down the trees that cannot furnish fruit. Fruit bearing trees are not to be cut down when such cutting down is not performed in order to fulfill a commandment of the Torah. The reason for this entire legislation, and specifically for its being mentioned at this point, is, that in war soldiers are in the habit of wreaking havoc all over, without regard to the ecological damage they cause by doing so. The Torah, therefore, goes on record that even in war, one must be concerned with what will be needed after the war has ended. The Jewish soldier, fighting a just war, must have confidence in G’d’s help so that he does not have to resort to wholesale destruction.

(1) Controversy raises and elevates a person <with increased zeal in the service of God>. This is because “a human is the tree of the field” (Deuteronomy 20:19).

(220) (220) "Does it have trees or not" (Numbers 13:20), as it is written in the Zohar "do not destroy its trees [etza] (Deut. 20:19) this is the student of the sages that advises [meyaetz] the people regarding teshuvah etc" (Zohar 3:202a and Zohar 3:202b). If so, in this case also, regarding an individual, the inclination to good is called tree, since it advises a person to Torah and teshuvah. And a person should test if the inclination to good rules them and advises them well, and if not, one should "exert yourselves and take", meaning that to do the opposite needs strength, and doing the opposite [of the yetzer hara] is "fruit of the land" since evil deeds are the husks and externals of the fruit, which does not happen regarding good deeds, which are the fruit themselves, and this is why is written "and exert yourselves and bring some of the fruit of the land".

(17) Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah said: ...He used to say: one whose wisdom exceeds his deeds, to what may he be compared? To a tree whose branches are numerous but whose roots are few, so that when the wind comes, it uproots it and overturns it, as it is said, “He shall be like a bush in the desert, which does not sense the coming of good. It is set in the scorched places of the wilderness, in a barren land without inhabitant” (Jeremiah 17:6). But one whose deeds exceed his wisdom, to what may he be compared? To a tree whose branches are few but roots are many, so that even if all the winds in the world come and blow upon it, they cannot move it out of its place, as it is said, “He shall be like a tree planted by waters, sending forth its roots by a stream. It does not sense the coming of heat, its leaves are ever fresh. It has no care in a year of drought; it does not cease to yield fruit” (ibid, 17:8).

(1) “See the work of God, for who can mend what He has warped?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13)
“See the work of God, for who can mend what He has warped?” 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. Moreover, you will cause death to that righteous one.’