When may I eat the fruit? It’s complicated  TB Rosh Hashanah 10

 

Today’s daf TB Rosh Hashana 10 is very technical and complicated. The very first Mishna says that the first of Tishre is the New Year “for planting, for determining the years of orla, the three-year period from when a tree has been planted during which time its fruit is forbidden” (daf 2a, Sefaria.org translation). One has to take into consideration three different mitzvot while discussing this segment of the Mishnah on our daf.

The first mitzvah is orla (ערלה), the first three years of the fruit tree’s life. One is not allowed to eat the fruit grown during the first three years as is written in the Torah “"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." (Leviticus 19:23).” The rabbis extended this prohibition and forbade deriving any benefit from this fruit. I did a little research and learned that the mitzvah of orla is still applicable both in the Land of Israel and in the Diaspora.

The second mitzvah is neta reva’ie (נטע רביעי). The fruit of the fourth year is eaten in Jerusalem very much like ma’aser sheni as is written in the Torah “In the fourth year all its fruit shall be set aside for jubilation before the LORD…” (Leviticus 19:24) Some poskim hold that the law of neta reva’ie applies both to the land of Israel and in the Diaspora while others hold it applies only to the land of Israel. According to Rabbi Yirmiyahu Kaganoff "And just as we cannot make ourselves tahor (ritually ready-gg) today, and therefore we cannot eat the produce of maaser sheni, we can also not consume the neta reva’ie or the food purchased with its redemption coins, since they have the same sanctity. Because of this problem and to avoid the loss that would result, we may transfer the kedusha (sanctity-gg) of large quantities of neta reva’ie to a coin of small value. Again, we are missing the main spiritual gain of consuming the foods in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem-gg), and for this, too, we mourn the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash (the Temple-gg).” https://www.yeshiva.co/midrash/21010 In the fifth year we may eat and benefit from all the fruit grown as the verse Leviticus 19: 24 concludes “and only in the fifth year may you use its fruit—that its yield to you may be increased: I the LORD am your God.”

The third mitzvah is the Sabbatical year (שנת השמיטה) when the land lays fallow. Of course the laws of the Sabbatical year are found in the Torah. Since the destruction of the Temple, these laws are not in effect on a Torah level (דאורייתא). However, the rabbis enacted these laws on a rabbinic level (דרבנן) so they won’t be forgotten in Israel.

Today’s daf teaches us how much time is added from the profane to the holy when it comes to the sabbatical year and how it impacts the laws of orla and reva’ie “The Sages taught in a baraita: If one plants a tree, or layers a vine shoot into the ground so that it may take root, or grafts a branch onto a tree on the eve of the Sabbatical Year thirty days before Rosh HaShana, as soon as Rosh HaShana arrives, a year is counted for him. The thirty days count as a full year with regard to the prohibition of orla, and it is permitted to preserve the plant during the Sabbatical Year, as this is not considered new growth (i.e. One is not obligated to uprooted-gg). However, if one performed these actions less than thirty days before Rosh HaShana, then when Rosh HaShana arrives, a year is not counted for him for orla, and it is prohibited to preserve the new growth during the Sabbatical Year (i.e. One is obligated to uprooted-gg).

“And if the planting, layering, or grafting took place more than thirty days before Rosh HaShana, the fruit of this planting is prohibited until the fifteenth of Shevat of the fourth year since the tree’s planting, even though the three years were already completed the previous Rosh HaShana. This principle applies both for orla during the year of orla, when it is prohibited to eat the fruit, and for fourth-year produce during the year of fourth-year produce, which must be eaten in Jerusalem or redeemed before it is eaten outside Jerusalem.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Here’s the first technical and complicated idea from our daf. A tree has to go past three Rosh Hashanas to fulfill his obligation of orla, but the fruit retains its sanctity until the next Tu B’Shevat. Of course, different poskim decide when we may eat the fruit in the fourth-year. Go to the Shulkhan Arukh, Yoreh De’ah, 294:4-5 and see how Joseph Karo decides the correct procedure. Rambam, Sefer Mitzvot Gedolot, and the Vilna Gaon come to the same conclusion that Karo did.