Can Roses Be Orlah?

Q. Is it permissible to smell roses if one knows that the rose bush was planted within the past 3 years?

A. The Torah forbids deriving any benefit from orlah (that grew on a tree within the first three years after it was planted). Even smelling fruit which is orlah is forbidden. Are roses considered a fruit, or because they are generally not eaten and are used for fragrance, perhaps they are not classified as a fruit? The Rashba is quoted by the Beis Yosef (YD 294) that it is forbidden to smell roses that are orlah, but the Raavad permitted this. Some poskim write that even the Rashba would be lenient outside of Israel, since the rule is all doubts regarding orlah outside of Israel are permitted. Others maintain that where the Rashba lived, it was common to grind petals roses and add it to food as a spice. Since roses were used as a spice, they are subject to the halachos of orlah. However, nowadays this is not done, and all would agree that one may smell roses even during the first three years. (See Sefer Piskei Teshuvos 217:8)

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.