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Questions tagged [bal-tashchit-waste]

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Can you compost chametz in your backyard? If so, how?

Background Some ways to get rid of food, from most to least environmentally-friendly, are: Feeding it to animals. Backyard composting. Curbside municipal composting. Burning it in a plastic bag. ...
unforgettableidSupportsMonica's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
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Practice for Shechita

I'm practicing to be a Shochet and one of the difficulties is practicing shechita on hundreds of birds to become proficient in picking up any bird and shechting it properly first try. Most non-Jewish ...
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Niddah Leftovers vs. Bal Tashchis

Is one prohibited to eat his wife's leftover even if she won't finish it and will be throw away? Please bring authentic halachic sources to support your answer.
MosheMoskowitz's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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Sefer on bal tashchit

Is there any contemporary Sefer which covers the basics of hilchos bal tashchit, and practical cases of their relevancy.
Kirk's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
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Can one prune a fruit tree?

Can one cut down branches of a fruit tree but not necessary cut down the entire the tree? At what point does it become bal tashchis? Is there no limit to trimming if it doesnt "kill" the ...
sig's user avatar
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Is destroying money Bal Tashchit

Aside from the national legality of destroying currency, does the Torah consider the intention of lowering inflation a valid reason for destroying money, or will it fall under Bal Tashchit?
Moshe's user avatar
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Did Rav Papa issue a halachic ruling in order to benefit financially?

In the Gemara Shab. 140b Rav Papa is recorded saying that one who drinks wine while able to drink beer violates “ba’al tashchit”. Maharsh”a comments that Rav Papa’s disapproval of consuming wine ...
Gavriel's user avatar
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Is Rabeinu Yonah at all encouraging wasting any food?

Rabeinu Yonah discusses one of the ways of repentance as leaving a little food over after the meal. אך בעת מאכלו ועודנו תאב לאכול יניח ממנו לכבוד הבורא מתאוותיו, ואל יאכל כפי תאוותו. ודרך זה ...
Dr. Shmuel's user avatar
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Throwing out cake or pastry larger than a k'zayis

One is not allowed to throw out pieces of bread larger than a k'zayis. Rabbi Doniel Neustadt (here in footnote 2) says this also applies to pastry and cake, but doesn't provide a source for this. ...
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Ramifications of eating (or forcing to eat) food one doesn’t like

Avos D’Rebbi Nassan 26:5 says (translation is from Artscroll, and brackets are from their footnotes): הוא היה אומר האוכל אוכלין שאינם עולים על גופו עובר משום ג' לאוין שביזה את עצמו וביזה את האוכלין ...
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Food ‘fight’ in the Talmud

Does the Talmud talk about a food fight (i.e. throwing food at one another)? In general, what would the Talmud have to say about a food fight in terms of wasting food, or otherwise? Is it okay? Not ...
Shlom's user avatar
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passive bal tashchis

is passive bal tashchis wrong? i see jews eat things (sometimes even to the detriment of their health, (because of the amount or quality) so that they will not go to waste is this a Jewish thing to do ...
hazoriz's user avatar
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Throwing away leftover kiddush wine

In keeping with the general rule that mitzvah objects, including comestibles, be discarded respectfully (as well as possibly baal tashchis), how should one get rid of leftover kiddush wine? It's not ...
SAH's user avatar
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Must chewing gum be removed before saying a bracha?

Given that it's preferable to have an empty mouth when saying a bracha must I remove chewing gum from my mouth before saying a bracha - for example, for a glass of water, or anything else for that ...
Jakub's user avatar
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3 votes
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210 views

Bal Tashchit and Chametz

Before Pesach, it is common to attempt to get rid of whatever chametzdik food one is able to. Taking this and the issur (prohibition) of bal tashchit into account, is it actually permissible to throw ...
Noach MiFrankfurt's user avatar
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2 answers
1k views

Throwing Out Bread

What is the nature of the prohibition to destroy bread? Why is it commonly presented differently from other destruction (bal tashchit)?
mevaqesh's user avatar
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1 vote
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To avoid bal tashchis, halachically, should people limit the quantity of "junk food" in mishloach manot?

Each year, after Purim, I am left with mounds of candy bars, wafers, juice boxes and other junk food that no one in my family eats. It gets thrown into the garbage. Seriously, we tried one year giving ...
DanF's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
194 views

do I have to eat the leftovers? [duplicate]

Is it a problem of bal tashchit to throw out edible leftovers if one prefers to do so for no good reason?
ray's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
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Destroying fruit-tree to save house

There is a prohibition against destroying fruit trees (Devarim 20:19). Are there any exceptions to this rule? May one cut down a fruit tree that is damaging a nearby house?
user5303's user avatar
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12 votes
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If Bal Tashchis and Achila Gasa would get in a fight, who would win?

There is a prohibition not to be wasteful. There is also a prohibition not to overeat. If a person was full, and the rest of the food was going to go to waste, is it better to discard perfectly good ...
Y     e     z's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
218 views

Taking home leftovers from a caterered affair - mitzvah or stealing?

At the end of several affairs, we notice that there are some cakes and pastries which are completely untouched. The caterer says that, by law of the health department, once a cake is out of its box, ...
DanF's user avatar
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4 votes
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Are "Price-Tag" Attacks halachically sound?

Certain fringe elements* in Israel are known for committing crimes in reaction to Palestinian attacks. This attacks have in the past included the destruction of Palestinian-owned olive groves and ...
Noach MiFrankfurt's user avatar
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Is taking an extended warm shower Bal Tashchis? Biblically?

Is taking an extended warm shower for pleasure (maybe also for health (Rambam dipping in hot water is healthy (i do not remember specific source))) Bal Tashchis Diorisa? Where can I find sources on ...
hazoriz's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
337 views

Cutting down fruit tree not worth its upkeep

There's a general prohibition to cut down fruit trees (see this question), based on 'bal tashchis'. Would the prohibition apply even to fruit trees that are expensive to maintain (and do not produce ...
הנער הזה's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
934 views

Why do we burn chametz instead of other ways of destroying it?

Before Pesach we burn whatever chametz we have not sold or otherwise removed from our ownership. Why specifically do we burn it instead of finding another way to dispose of it? Perhaps a lest wasteful ...
user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
330 views

Is playing with a water gun allowed

Is playing with a water gun for fun allowed or is it a problem of baal tashchis (wasting resources)? (assuming for adult playing with kids or with other adults) This is really a general question of ...
ray's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
319 views

Throwing out food with "questionable" hechsher - bal tashchis?

If one receive cooked food from a person that perhaps used ingrediants from a hechsher that one normally wouldn't eat is it bal tashchis to throw out the food? With packaged, store-bought food it ...
Yehoshua's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
344 views

Is throwing out challah you were mafrish a violation of bal tashchit?

I'm probably missing something rather simple but a cursory check has not given me a suitable answer -- when someone bakes challah and takes that chunk out to be put aside for a kohen, because the ...
rosends's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
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Is runoff water from a drinking fountain a problem of Bal Tashhith?

There are so many potential questions raised with respect to runoff water, so I'll just stick with one: When I was a kid I was taught to let the water of a drinking fountain run for 10 seconds before ...
Seth J's user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
292 views

Filmmaking - Bal Tashchis?

I don't know if anyone has seen the Lipa Schmeltzer music video for Abi M'leibt, but I remember that when it first came out, many people on various forums were furious at the blatant bal tashchis that ...
HodofHod's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
276 views

Cutting Vines in Halacha

Halacha does not allow one to cut down a Fruit Bearing tree. Does this apply to a Grape Vine too?
SimchasTorah's user avatar
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3 votes
4 answers
2k views

Throwing out bread or Challah

In todays generation when there is leftover bread or Challah we often discard it. As bread is the food for life there are those that either feed it to the birds, make kugel, breadcrumbs, etc. instead ...
Gershon Gold's user avatar