Reply To: Kosher Cruise

“Needless Destruction

The general prohibition against needless destruction, derived from the verse on fruit trees, concerns not destroying directly or indirectly anything that may be of use to people.

It applies to wasting energy, clothing, water, money, and more.

According to the Talmud, this prohibition includes wastefully burning oil or fuel.2

Many rishonim (commentators between c. 1000 and 1500 CE) conclude that wasting any resources of benefit to humans is a Torah prohibition.

The Talmudic sage Rabbi Yishmael makes another logical inference: if the Torah warns us not to destroy fruit trees, then we should be even more careful about not destroying the fruit itself.4

Currently, in Israel, Rabbi Moshe Yitzhak Forehand notes that all rabbinic authorities agree, based on this teaching, that it is forbidden from the Torah to destroy edible fruit.5

This applies to all food that is fit to be eaten, and not only the fruit of trees.6″ (Neril on Chabad).