Illustration Credit: Rebecca Kerzner
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Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
Why do we have to be careful about cutting down trees?
כִּי תָצוּר אֶל עִיר יָמִים רַבִּים לְהִלָּחֵם עָלֶיהָ לְתׇפְשָׂהּ
לֹא תַשְׁחִית אֶת עֵצָהּ לִנְדֹּחַ עָלָיו גַּרְזֶן
כִּי מִמֶּנּוּ תֹאכֵל וְאֹתוֹ לֹא תִכְרֹת
כִּי הָאָדָם עֵץ הַשָּׂדֶה
לָבֹא מִפָּנֶיךָ בַּמָּצוֹר׃
When you make a siege around a city for a long time, to try to capture it—
Do not destroy its trees by striking them with an ax.
You can eat from them, but do not cut them down.
For are people like trees,
who would attack you in a siege?
The bolded words, כִּי הָאָדָם עֵץ הַשָּׂדֶה (ki ha-adam etz ha-sadeh), are hard to translate. The English above follows Rashi’s interpretation:
כִּי הָאָדָם עֵץ הַשָּׂדֶה—הֲרֵי כִּי מְשַׁמֵּשׁ לְשׁוֹן דִּלְמָא, שֶׁמָּא הָאָדָם עֵץ הַשָּׂדֶה לְהִכָּנֵס בְּתוֹךְ הַמָּצוֹר מִפָּנֶיךָ, לְהִתְיַסֵּר בְּיִסּוּרֵי רָעָב וְצָמָא כְּאַנְשֵׁי הָעִיר, לָמָּה תַּשְׁחִיתֶנּוּ?
Is a person like a tree?—The word “ki” here means “perhaps?” and it’s saying: Is the tree of the field perhaps a person who could be put under siege and be struck with famine and thirst like the people in the city? Why would you destroy it?
According to Rashi, the Torah is asking: Do you have to be afraid of trees like you might be afraid of people who would attack you? Would a tree ever hurt you? The answer is obvious: No way!
In this way, people who might hurt you ARE NOT like trees. So, Rashi asks, “why would you destroy it (תַּשְׁחִיתֶנּוּ, tash’hitenu)?” The trees aren’t hurting anybody. Quite the opposite, you can eat their fruit! Cutting them down is a waste of something wonderful. This pasuk about fruit trees teaches us the halakhah of בַּל תַּשְׁחִיתׂ (bal tash’hit, not destroying or wasting things for no reason).
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But there are other ways to understand the Torah’s words.
כִּי הָאָדָם עֵץ הַשָּׂדֶה—הַיְנוּ כְּמוֹ שֶׁיֵּשׁ בָּאִילָן שָׁרָשִׁין וַעֲנָפִין וְטַרְפִין וּפֵרוֹת כְּמוֹ כֵן יֶשְׁנוֹ גַּם כֵּן בְּאִישׁ הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִי עַל יְדֵי מַעֲשָׂיו הַטּוֹבִים.
A person is like a tree!—A tree has roots, branches, leaves, and fruit, and the Jewish people also have these things, through doing good deeds.
According to this, כִּי הָאָדָם עֵץ הַשָּׂדֶה (ki ha-adam etz ha-sadeh), doesn’t mean, “are people like trees?” It means, “people are like trees!” Just like trees spread their roots and branches wide and use the tasteless soil to make delicious fruit for others, people are also capable of taking the potential from inside them and spreading a lot of good where it wasn’t there before.
In this way, people ARE like trees.
- How do Rashi and the Apter Rav read the Torah in opposite ways? What can this teach us about the words of the Torah and how much there is to learn from them?
- According to Rashi, what can Tu Bishvat remind us about the way we are supposed to treat our world? According to the Apter Rav, what can Tu Bishvat remind us about the way we are supposed to treat others?
- Can you think of other ways in which people are, or are not, like trees, and what we might learn from that?
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