The mitzva of orla applies to fruit trees, not to vegetables. Orla does not apply even to vegetables that grow on perennial shrubs. The key difference between a tree and a perennial vegetable is this: the stem of a perennial vegetable withers each year and regrows from its roots the following year, whereas the trunk and root system of a tree remain in place and become more established from year to year. New branches and fruit then continue to grow from that same enduring structure. This distinction also determines the blessing over the fruit — whether ha-etz or ha-adama. For this reason, one recites ha-adama over bananas. Although the banana plant can grow to about four meters and looks like a tree, it is considered a vegetable because its “trunk” withers, its roots shrivel, and it regrows the following year only from its bulb (Berakhot 40a; following the Geonim; SA and Rema OḤ 203:2–3; Peninei Halakha: Berakhot 8:2).[12]
Eggplants and peppers require special consideration, because their stems remain intact from year to year. In practice, orla does not apply to them, as they differ fundamentally from trees. They bear fruit already in the first year; in the second year, their yield diminishes in both quantity and quality; and they generally do not continue producing beyond three years. By contrast, the Torah presents a tree as bearing fruit for at least five years; by observing orla, its fruit increases and improves in the fifth year, as it says: “When you come into the Land and plant any tree for food, you shall regard its fruit as closed off. For three years it shall be closed off to you; it may not be eaten. In the fourth year, all its fruit shall be sacred, for praise of the Lord. In the fifth year, you may eat its fruit, so that it may yield its increase to you. I am the Lord your God” (Vayikra 19:23–25). As the Sages said: “This mitzva that you keep will increase its yield for you, for I will bless the fruit you plant in its merit.” R. Akiva would say: “The Torah addressed the evil inclination, lest a person say, ‘I have worked in vain for four years.’ The verse therefore says, ‘so that it may yield its increase to you. I am the Lord’; I am the Lord Who guarantees this and is faithful to keep My promise” (Rashi, citing Torat Kohanim on Vayikra 19:25). Ramban likewise explains that the fruit grown in the third year is scant and poor, and only in the fourth year does it become good and fit to be brought before God as neta reva’i.
On that basis, orla does not apply to papaya and passion fruit either. They bear fruit already in the first year, and by the fifth year their yield has declined. Many of these plants do not even last five years. Some are stringent, but the accepted halakha follows the lenient opinion. For the same reason, orla does not apply to any variety of raspberry or blackberry, as explained in the note. [13]
[12]. The Tosefta in Kilayim 3:15 states: “This is the rule: anything that sends up its leaves from its base is a vegetable, and anything that does not is a tree.” That is, a vegetable sends up new leaves each year from its root or bulb, while a tree has a trunk and roots that become more established from year to year, and from that trunk new leaves emerge annually. Regarding the blessing of ha-adama or ha-etz, Berakhot 40b states: “If, when the fruit is removed, the goveza does not produce fruit again, one does not recite borei peri ha-etz but borei peri ha-adama.” Some authorities have understood that the Rishonim dispute the definition of goveza and, as a result, the definition of a “tree.” According to their reading, Rosh maintains that anything whose roots remain from year to year is considered a tree. The Geonim maintain that only a plant whose above-ground trunk remains is a tree. Some infer from Rashi that a plant is considered a tree only if its branches also remain from year to year. This understandably created many uncertainties regarding the laws of blessings and orla. More likely, however, the Rishonim are not actually disagreeing here. Rather, all agree that a tree is a plant whose trunk and roots endure and become more established from year to year, and because of that enduring structure, its fruit increases from year to year (as will be explained in the next footnote). Rashi was simply describing the common case, where the branches also remain from year to year. The Geonim were more precise in their formulation, in order to include trees whose branches wither. Rosh noted that in some cases even the above-ground trunk may wither, as sometimes happens with the caper bush. Yet because the plant has a single enduring trunk-and-root system that becomes more established from year to year, it is still considered a tree, as the Gemara concludes in Berakhot 36a. This definition of a tree accords with all the sugyot. Accordingly, the raspberry is not a tree, as explained in the next footnote.
[13]. Halakhic authorities discussed eggplants at length. Because their stems persist into the second year, they might seem, at first glance, to be subject to orla. This is indeed the view of Kaftor Va-Feraḥ (ch. 56). Nevertheless, the accepted practice everywhere has been to eat them even within the first three years. Birkei Yosef YD 294:4 cites his grandfather, R. Avraham Azulai, who testified that this was also the practice of the exceptionally pious, who were otherwise accustomed to personal stringencies, including R. Yosef Karo, the Ari, and R. Moshe Alsheikh. He explained: “Every tree that bears fruit year after year improves with time. The eggplant plant, by contrast, is good and sweet in its first year. In its second year, it declines somewhat and becomes a bit bitter. In its third year, it becomes very bitter and is fit for eating only in pressing circumstances. This shows that it is a vegetable.” Mishpetei Uziel, vol. 6, §80, rules similarly. Some add that it is inconceivable for there to be a fruit that is forever forbidden to eat (Pnei Moshe YD 294:4; Igrot Ha-Re’iya §468; Ḥazon Ish, Orla 12:3).
In practice, the halakhic authorities offered several identifying marks of a shrub to which orla does not apply. Many maintain that any plant that bears fruit in its first year is not a tree (Radvaz 3:531; Kol Eliyahu; Ma’amar Mordekhai; Peri ha-Adama; Rav Pe’alim OḤ 2:30). Others maintain that if its stem is hollow, it is not a tree but a stalk, even if the stalk is thick, because only a stalk can grow quickly, whereas woody trunks develop over years (Halakhot Ketanot 1:83; Rav Pe’alim OḤ 2:30). Others, as noted above, write that if its fruit declines from year to year, it is not a tree (Birkei Yosef; Tzitz Eliezer 2:15).
Based on these criteria, orla does not apply to papaya and passion fruit. To be sure, Mishpetei Eretz 1:4 is stringent regarding papaya because it bears fruit for more than three years. Some note that it can even survive for ten years or longer. Similarly, R. Yoel Friedman ruled stringently regarding passion fruit (Emunat Itekha 26), since its yield does not decline significantly and its stem is not truly hollow. Moreover, proper pruning can keep it productive for more than three years. Nevertheless, many halakhic authorities maintain that any plant that bears fruit in its first year is not a tree, and both papaya and passion fruit do so. Regarding papaya, this is also the ruling of Rav Pe’alim OḤ 2:30; Yayin ha-Tov, vol. 1, YD 14; R. Mordekhai Eliyahu, Ma’amar Mordekhai 3:10; and Yeḥaveh Da’at 4:52. In addition, the papaya’s stem is hollow, and the stem of the passion fruit has a small cavity as well (Ḥelkat ha-Sadeh 1:16–17). More fundamentally, a tree is by nature a long-term plant: its fruit increases in the fifth and sixth years, and it continues producing for many years. The papaya plant, by contrast, generally does not live beyond five years, and its yield declines from year to year. The same is true of passion fruit. Its peak yield is in the first and second years, and perhaps the third as well. After that, the yield steadily declines, and many of the plants naturally wither by the fifth year.
A raspberry bush appears to be a perennial shrub, as it lasts for many years. In fact, however, each cane emerges from the ground and bears fruit for two years, or only in its second year, and then withers. Meanwhile, new canes emerge from the ground. They too bear fruit for about two years and then wither. The raspberry canes are also somewhat hollow. Since each cane bears fruit for no more than two years, the raspberry is treated halakhically as a vegetable, and one recites ha-adama over it. The same applies to blackberries and all shrubs whose canes weaken by the third year.
True, a new raspberry cane sometimes grows out of the old one, and it may even draw a bit of nourishment from it. In reality, though, the new growth does not depend on the old cane. Canes attached to the old one do not grow better than those that sprout anew from the roots. This shows that even those attached to the old cane establish a root system of their own, suited to their growth. Thus, this is not a tree that becomes more established from year to year.
