One Minute Halacha Daily - #58 Is the Fruit Orla? (Now, text included!)

NEW: You can now also read the Halacha in plain text, here below. 

You can also listen to the Daily Halacha on our call-in phone line (718) 989-9599. (In addition, the Daily Halacha can be viewed on www.halacha2go.com. Subscribe there to receive it via WhatsApp or email).

Good Shabbos and Gut Yom Tov!

 

#58 Is the Fruit Orla? 

The issue of Orla, of not eating fruit during the first three years of a tree’s life -- and sometimes during the fourth year as well (Neta Revai) -- was not such an issue in previous years. In the past, many trees would not produce fruit for the first three years anyway. The issues of Orla that Poskim addressed in those times were regarding those trees which are questionable if Halachically they are considered fruit trees or vegetable shrubs. As today there are many modern agricultural techniques, one can buy a sapling from a nursery, which may affect how to count the three years and very often requires the three-year count to start all over again after the replanting. If one is in Chutz LaAretz, outside of Eretz Yisroel, and entertains any doubt whether the fruit is Orla or not, it is 100% permissible. In Eretz Yisroel, however, things are much more complex, and if one has fruit that is definitely from Eretz Yisroel, they must be careful with the issue of Orla and ask a Rov what to do.