Shoftim

Shoftim - Moshe Bleich 

Moshe Bleich is director of social work services at the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. Moshe has a PhD in Social Welfare from Yeshiva University, as well as Judicial and Rabbinic Ordination from Mir Yeshiva, NY. He writes and speaks extensively on social and educational issues in Jewish law and life.

From a verse in Parshat Shoftim it is commonly understood that it is prohibited to engage in wanton destruction.  The verse tells us that it is prohibited to destroy the trees of the field. "When you shall besiege a city for many days, to wage war against it, you shall not destroy the trees by wielding an axe against them; you may eat of it, but not cut it down. For is the tree of the field a man that it should be besieged by you?" (Deuteronomy, 21:19).

From the comments of the Gemara in Shabbat it would seem that this prohibition is not merely quantitative but qualitative as well.

The Gemara in Shabbat (129a) relates that in the time of our Sages it was considered healthy to engage in bloodletting. After bloodletting, it was common to catch a chill and people would light fires for themselves after the procedure to prevent serious illness. Rabbah, on one occasion, could not find any fire-burning wood after bloodletting and broke up his stool on purpose where upon Abaye said to Rabbah, "But you are infringing on the prohibition of ‘thou shall not destroy'." Rabbah responded, "'Thou shall not destroy' in regard to my own body is more important to me." Abaye's question is somewhat problematic for, after all, if Rabbah is using his stool for fire wood it is being put to good use. It seems from the Gemara that when an object can be used in an optimum manner but is used for a lesser function, this lesser use is considered to be a form of destruction. Items that are not used to their potential are also deemed to have been wantonly destroyed. Thus, Abaye asks Rabbah how he could use a footstool for firewood, since Rabbah is not maximizing the use of expensive wood and hence is violating the prohibition against destroying things needlessly (Baal Tashchis).
 
It would appear that the prohibition of Baal Tashchis is not limited to material possessions. We all have unique human talents and spiritual potential. When we fail to utilize that potential we are all guilty of spiritual waste. To be sure, when one goes on vacation or rests to recharge one's spiritual batteries and, at that time, does not engage in spiritual pursuits that falls within the purview of Rabbah's answer, "Thou shall not destroy in regard to my own body is more important to me." Yet, at other times, one must engage in spiritual pursuits and cannot be satisfied with minimum standards for when we do not actualize our spiritual potential we are guilty of spiritual Baal Tashchis.
 
The question we have to ask ourselves is why we do not raise our standards and try to actualize ourselves more. The answer that I think resides in a verse at the beginning of the Parsha. The Torah prohibits a judge from taking bribes, "for bribes blind the eyes of discerning and upset the plea of the just." The Gemara in Ketubot (105b) records that bribery is not merely financial, but flattery is also a form of bribery, a verbal bribery. I would add that we are also guilty of a third form of bribery, that of complacency. As the Torah says, bribery blinds us; we are complacent with our lifestyles and thus blinded from the need to improve.

The month of Elul and the blowing of the Shofar serve to remind us not to be complacent with our lives. The idea of the Rambam (Maimonides, 12th century scholar) that the Shofar is an alarm clock is well known. The Rambam writes, "Rouse you from your lethargy! Scrutinize your deeds and return in repentance. Remember your Creator, ye who forgot eternal truth in the trifles of the hour, who go astray all your years after vain illusions, which can neither profit nor deliver. Look well into your souls and mend your ways and actions; let each one forsake his evil path and his unworthy purpose and return to G-d so that He may have mercy" (Hilkhot Teshuva 3:4). Thus, the Shofar serves as an alarm clock and in the month of Elul it is sounded every day, and thus if you missed it this week or did not listen to its message, there is a snooze alarm to wake us for the whole of the rest of the month. The Bracha (blessing) we recite on the Mitzvah of Shofar is "lishmoah," to hear and understand its message, that we must be roused from our complacency and actualize our potential.

Perhaps this is why Shoftim is always read in the first week of Elul, when the Shofar is blown and arouses us to remember not to be bribed by our complacency and to actualize our potential, thereby preventing a spiritual waste, and thus a spiritual "Baal Tashchis".