When may one cut down a fruit tree?
Parshat Shoftim (Devarim 20:19) warns Jewish
soldiers against destroying trees which bear edible fruit, and the sages
understood this to prohibit cutting down such trees in general. Some debate
whether this expansion is biblical or rabbinic. The prohibition includes
permitting a non-Jewish landscaper to cut down the tree.
One may cut back or destroy such a tree if it is
harming a plant which produces fruit of greater importance, or if its space is
needed for other activities, or if one needs its branches for a mitzvah.
One must cut back such a tree if it blocks light
from reaching a neighbor's window, or if it blocks traffic through a public
road.
(Bava Kama 91b-92a; Makkot 22a; Mishneh Torah,
Hilchot Melachim 6:8; Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 155:26-27; Taz Yoreh Deah
116:6; Chavos Yair 195; Yachel Yisrael 34; Noam 8 pp. 117-135)
Have a great day,
Mordechai
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