Tu Bishevat –The New Year for Orlah and Neta Revay

The Mishnah calls 15 Shevat (Tu Bishevat) the new year for trees, which is halachically significant for orlah, neta revay, terumot and ma’aserot.

Chazal note that trees store energy for several months. Effectively, in the first months of the year trees are influenced by energy they received from the previous year. Thus, their fruits also belong to the previous year. Chazal determined that by 15 Shevat, the trees already received the majority of their energy from the current year. For this reason, from this point on the fruits belong to the current year.

The halachot that pertain to orlah and neta revay this year (as opposed to terumot and ma’aserot; more on that next week) are identical to other years.

Chanatah and Tu Bishevat

Fruit that reaches chanatah before 15 Shevat halachically belongs to the previous year, while fruit that reaches this stage after 15 Shevat belongs to the current year.

Most posekim define chanatah as the stage after petals fall and the new fruit begins

BY RABBI MOSHE BLOOM en.toraland.org.il

to form. It generally takes 3–8 months for fruit to ripen after this time. That is, a fruit that began to develop last summer (5782) and ripened this winter (5783) halachically belongs to 5782. Even a fruit that reached chanatah in Cheshvan and ripened in Adar belongs to last year (5782) and not to the current year (5783).

It is possible that fruit harvested after 15 Shevat belongs to the previous year, since it began to form before 15 Shevat. Practically speaking, most fruits do not begin to develop at this stage, besides lemons, almonds, loquats, and apricots. For such trees there may be fruits from different years hanging on the same tree.

Orlah and Neta Revay

For trees planted in 5780 (until 15 Av), 5780 is first orlah year, 5781 its second year, and 5782 its third. Fruits growing on such trees until 15 Shevat 5783 belong to 5782 and are orlah and forbidden to eat. Only fruits that reach chanatah after 15 Shevat 5783 are not orlah. All fruits that reach chanatah from 15 Shevat 5783–15 Shevat 5784 are fourth-year fruit, neta revay. Fruits that reach chanatah after 15 Shevat 5784 are fifth-year fruit and obligated in terumot and ma’aserot.

BY SIVAN RAHAV-MEIR