DEUT1019 What seems in the Torah a specialized and therefore rather minor edict about behavior toward the earth becomes a much broader one in rabbinic Judaism. The Torah says, [this and following verse]. The rabbis of the Talmud concluded that if we must not destroy enemy fruit trees even in wartime, then all the more must we take care not to waste them, or any life-forms, or even human-made objects, in time of peace: Bal tashkit! ("Do not destroy!") At the same time, having broadened the command so much, they also made clear that it was wasteful use, not all use, that they were prohibiting, that indeed God sees it as a sin not to take advantage of the joys God provided in the world God created. (B. Bava Kamma 91b. For the prohibition itself, see also B. Shabbat 67b, 129a, 140b; B. Kiddushin 32a; and B. Hullin 7b). (By Arthur Waskow, "Jewish Environmental Ethics: Intertwining Adam with Adamah")