Tu’bishvat and Orlah

Q. How does Tu’bishvat impact the counting of years of orlah (prohibition of eating fruit from a tree during its first three years)?

A. The Torah states, “When you enter the land and plant any tree for food, you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden for you, not to be eaten.” (Vayikra 19:23) From here we learn that one may not eat or derive benefit from fruit that grew during the first three years of a tree’s existence. This fruit is called orlah. This prohibition applies both in the land of Israel as well as in the diaspora. In Israel, fruit that grows in the fourth year has a special kedusha (sanctity) known as “neta revai”. When calculating a tree’s first three years of existence for orlah, the years need not be complete. Rather, if a new tree grew for a minimum of thirty days before Rosh Hashana, this is treated as the first year of the trees existence. It is assumed that a tree does not begin to take root and grow until fourteen days have elapsed after planting. Therefore, if a tree is planted on or before the 15 day of Av, which is 44 days before Rosh Hashana, the tree is considered one year old on Rosh Hashana, and Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the tree’s second year of growth. If a tree is planted less than 44 days before Rosh Hashanah, one must wait until the following Rosh Hashanah (more than a year) to complete the first year of orlah. However, even after the third Rosh Hashanah marks the completion of three years, the fruit which blossoms in the fourth year before Tu’bishvat is treated as orlah as well. This is because this fruit was nourished from sap that the tree produced before Rosh Hashana. If fruit blossomed after Tu’bishvat of the fourth year, we assume that the fruit was nourished from the current year’s sap, and the fruit is not orlah. The Shach (YD 294:10) quotes the Rosh who notes that in our climate, trees don’t ordinarily blossom before Tu’bishvat, so one may assume that all fruit that is found on the tree in the fourth year is not orlah.

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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.